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Provides parents with the tools to support children who experience medical trauma
Afraid of the Doctor is the first book written for parents to equip them with the knowledge and skills to support their children through medical challenges on a day-to-day basis, and specifically with medical trauma-experiences in healthcare that can profoundly affect a child's response and willingness to even go to the doctor. The challenge of medical trauma is often under-recognized and overlooked in the healthcare system, leaving parents to learn about it and manage it on their own. This book helps parents understand medical trauma and learn strategies to reduce and even prevent it, empowering them to better care for their child's emotional and physical health.
Afraid of the Doctor integrates character stories throughout the book to illustrate the signs and symptoms of medical trauma and the roles parents and caregivers play in supporting their child through medical challenges. Readers will find twelve distinct strategies they can implement to help prevent and reduce medical trauma and otherwise support their child while facing medical interventions or a chronic condition. With compassion and empathy, Meghan Marsac and Melissa Hogan offer parents the tools they need to choose the strategies that will work best for their children and their families.
About the author
Melissa J. Hogan, JD is a parent to a child with a rare, genetic disease who has faced a countless number of surgeries, specialists, and as a result, medical trauma. In addition to caregiving and advocating for her son's needs, she is a consultant for clinical trials in rare and neurodegenerative disorders and has published in several medical journals. She also founded the leading research and advocacy foundation in Hunter syndrome, Project Alive, which has raised millions of dollars for research. She lives with her three sons and a service dog, Chloe, outside Nashville, Tennessee.
Meghan L. Marsac, PhD is a pediatric psychologist. She is currently a tenured, Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. She has published in lead medical and psychology journals such as Pediatrics, JAMA Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, and the European Journal of Psychotraumatology. In addition, she is the lead creator of the Cellie Coping Kit for children with medical conditions.
Summary
Navigating the emotional aspects of medical care (such as medical trauma) for kids can be a daunting task for parents and other caregivers. The primary goal of Afraid of the Doctor is to provide a foundation for parents and caregivers to be able to manage these emotional reactions in their children and themselves on a day-to-day basis.
