A number of the contributions made in relation to the provision of information over the past thirty years will be published once again in this special issue. These contributions together provide an overview of the huge efforts that are required in order to ensure the provision of information to children and parents in an appropriate manner. It is telling that the content of this information is still very much of topical interest. The following article sketches the historical backdrop against which the selected contributions were established.

Development of children's conception of illness

Child and youth psychologist Hendrik Koopman obtained his doctorate in 1993 with a thesis on how children perceive and conceptualize illness. In 1997, he wrote an article on this subject in Kind en Ziekenhuis. According to Koopman, preparing a child can only be successful if care providers convey their message in a way that relates to the vision that the child in question has of his or her own illness. The development of children in their thoughts about illness can be demonstrated in a model.

Psychologist Joop Fahrenfort obtained his doctorate in 1993 with a thesis on the emotional problems of preschool children who have experienced hospitalisation. His research shows that parental participation can help prevent emotional problems. Fahrenfort argues that parents should be informed of this fact, preferably before their child is admitted to hospital. He anticipates that parents who are better informed will more readily opt for parental participation and rooming-in.

On 16 January 1990, the director of Kind en Ziekenhuis, Margreet van Bergen, gave a lecture to a room full of patient communication advisors on preparing children and parents. The essence of her message was that a child must be prepared by an adult whom he or she trusts and who is also able to offer him or her emotional support. The motto is that a child receives the best preparation from a wellprepared adult.

In 1989, Remedial Educationalist Marguerite Kaptein-de Kock van Leeuwen reported on a literary study into the way in which children experience hospital admissions and the way in which they could best be prepared for such an admission. It related primarily to short-term admissions in relation to tonsillectomies. It was found that a combination of factual information and personal attention works best for parents and children.

Is there any point in preparing healthy children, in groups, for a possible future hospital visit or hospitalisation? Back in 1983, the English child psychologist Joyce Robertson believed there wasn’t. She argued that hospital-related information is more likely to scare than reassure preschoolers. However, initiatives to inform children in groups are still being launched today, in 2008. This goes to show that Joyce Robertson’s plea to refrain from group-based information efforts has lost little of its relevance.

A real-life story. In 1979, a mother wrote a letter to Kind en Ziekenhuis about the shocking way in which she was treated by an ophthalmologist. Her request for information concerning the operation that her young daughter needed to undergo was completely ignored. The way in which this mother was treated by this ophthalmologist was what motivated her to become a member of the association.