“It is noisy, busy and smells weird”: Sensory Friendly Environments for Children and Young People visiting health care settings

Children and young people with sensory differences and sensitivities can struggle to access healthcare settings as the sights, sounds, smells, interactions, and touch involved can be overwhelming and create distress and dysregulation. This can result in inequitable access to healthcare. Initiatives to develop sensory-friendly healthcare environments for children remain limited and are not always informed by evidence directly from children and their parents. This project explored the perceptions and experiences of children and young people with sensory needs and their parents visiting an acute hospital during a program aimed at building a sensory-friendly environment. Thirty-one children and young people (5-16 years) with sensory differences and sensitivities and thirty-eight caregivers shared their views using paper activity sheets and online surveys. Data were analyzed using content analysis approaches. Children and young people reported that the hospital environment was often too loud, too busy, and too bright, causing them to feel anxious, stressed, and dysregulated. Interactions with healthcare staff were reported by children, young people, and parents as difficult, with professionals described as lacking an understanding of individual communication differences, needs, and adaptations. Equitable access to healthcare settings could be improved by quiet calm spaces, more resources such as fidget toys, and staff who invested time in developing trust and rapport and could adapt care provision to meet the needs of children and young people.