Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness
Highlights
- •
- Caregiver healthcare information avoidance may occur as a short-term coping strategy.
- •
- Caregiver healthcare information avoidance is likely to be unhelpful as a pervasive, long-term behavior.
- •
- Healthcare professionals should identify the reasons for caregiver healthcare information avoidance.
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- Preparation and planning should occur before healthcare professionals share difficult information with families.
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Construct of Information Avoidance in the Context of Healthcare
3. Theories of Information Avoidance

- (i)
- Situation selection. An individual may shape their environment to limit exposure to unwanted information. For example, a parent might leave a conversation with an HCP if they believe that undesired information may be shared, or they may only read online resources that are likely to align with their views.
- (ii)
- Situation modification. To lessen negative emotional impact, individuals may adjust situations such as inviting a partner/friend for support or engaging in calming activities (e.g., going for a walk, praying) before receiving difficult news. These strategies may be used to minimize information avoidance.
- (iii)
- Attentional deployment. This involves shifting attention away from potentially distressing information to lighter topics for emotional relief. Conversely, individuals may engage in rumination, or a perseverative focus on the information and associated thoughts and feelings, which is often unproductive and may intensify negative emotions [17,18].
- (iv)
- Cognitive reappraisal. Reframing the meaning of a situation can alter emotional responses. For example, a parent may shift from viewing a failed intervention as a devastating loss to seeing it as a relief for their child from a burdensome treatment.
- (v)
- Response modulation. This form of emotion regulation occurs late in the emotion-generation process and involves altering physiological, experiential, or behavioral responses associated with an emotional situation [14]. For example, intense exercise may be used to decrease the physiological and experiential aspects associated with the negative emotion. [14]. Another form of response modulation is expressive suppression—choosing not to show negative emotions after receiving bad news. HCPs may misinterpret this as denial rather than attempts at maintaining some control over where and when negative emotions are experienced. Nevertheless, prolonged suppression can lead to negative emotions “leaking” and manifesting in other contexts [14,19].
4. Assessment of Healthcare Information Avoidance
5. Information Avoidance in the Pediatric Palliative Care Context
6. Future Research Directions
7. Clinical Directions for Managing Information Avoidance
8. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| HCP | Healthcare professional |
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| Key Steps | Considerations | Illustrative Comments |
|---|---|---|
| C. Assess individual’s capacity for Coping with further information provision |
| “Who or what do you turn to for support during tough times?” “Is there anything that you would find helpful…” |
| A. Identify individual’s current Affective state |
| “It is understandable that you are quite shaken by the things that happened; there has been a lot for you to take in. Let us talk more tomorrow, and I can explain things more and answer any questions.” |
| C. Provide Choice regarding the delivery of the information provision |
| “Would you find it helpful to bring someone with you to the next meeting?” “Would you prefer that we talk here or in a room away from the ward?” |
| A. Inform individual of the nature of the Available information |
| “Some test results have come back. The results might not be all that we hoped for.” |
| R. Enquire about individual’s perceptions of their Readiness for information |
| “Would it be OK with you if I give you some information about the different options?” |
| A. Consider the Amount of information that is useful to provide on the one occasion |
| “There is a lot to take in. We do not need to talk about it all today. For now, we could just focus on…” |
| F. Ensure appropriate Follow-up |
| “If more questions come to mind, write them down and we can talk about them tomorrow” “After you leave here, is there someone you can talk this through with?” |
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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Jaaniste, T.; Mohammed, S.; Cowan, S. Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness. Children 2025, 12, 1464. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111464
Jaaniste T, Mohammed S, Cowan S. Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness. Children. 2025; 12(11):1464. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111464
Chicago/Turabian StyleJaaniste, Tiina, Shujauddin Mohammed, and Sue Cowan. 2025. "Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness" Children 12, no. 11: 1464. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111464
APA StyleJaaniste, T., Mohammed, S., & Cowan, S. (2025). Healthcare Information Avoidance in the Context of Caring for a Child with a Serious Illness. Children, 12(11), 1464. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111464

