Promoting Resilience in Paediatric Health Care: The Role of the Child Life Specialist

The delivery of health care has dramatically improved over the last century, yet the psychosocial needs of paediatric patients continue. Our evolving understanding of resilience suggests it is influenced not only by individual factors, but also environmental and social factors. The interactions between these factors can help protect or can create additional risks for patients facing adversity. Certified Child Life Specialists assess individual, family, social, and health care variables in order to provide interventions that promote resilience and adaptive responses. They use play, preparation, active coping strategies, education, and expressive activities as interventions to mitigate the vulnerability of paediatric patients. This chapter begins with a discussion of the historical context of paediatric health care and the development of the child life specialist role followed by a review of assessment variables and interventions that can be offered to promote adaptive responses in a health care context.