White lies in pediatric care: a qualitative study from nurses’ perspective

Communication and sharing information with ill children are challenging. To protect a child from the bitter reality, sometimes use of well-intended untruths, or white lies is necessary. This research aimed at studying the experiences of nurses about the use of white lies in in pediatric clinical setting. In this qualitative, content-analysis study, 24 on-duty pediatric nurses were interviewed in 2019. Data were collected through purposeful sampling using semi-structured interviews, and the collected data were analyzed according to Granheim and Landman’s method using MAXQDA-10 software. Eighteen female and six male nurses with the mean age of 42 ± 3/7 years and mean work experience of 16 ± 4/1 years were selected to participate in this study. Data analysis showed that use of white lies depends on both situation and several other factors classified into five general categories: nature of data, childhood characteristics, family norms, treatment team’s capabilities and organization policies. Treatment team members need to improve their communication skills to convey therapeutic information to the ill child’s family appropriately. To do so, special guidelines should be prepared for healthcare staff in pediatric clinical setting.