Parents' Experiences of Physical Activity in Their Children With Functional Constipation - A Qualitative Interview Study

Children with functional constipation are a large patient group that not only needs to seek care at primary healthcare centers and pediatric clinics, but many of the visits received at the emergency department are related to symptoms of constipation. The personal suffering, physically and psychologically, affects not only the child but the entire family. After the patient has started their medical treatment and received information regarding the diagnosis and dietary advice, healthcare today does not have much more to offer. The physiotherapist has currently no natural part in the team around children with constipation. Regular physical activity is recommended but lacks support in science. Physical activity has been shown to have a good effect, such as stimulating bowel movements, reducing constipation, and improving gut microbiota, in other diagnoses from the gastrointestinal tract such as irritable bowel syndrome. From a physiological perspective, physical activity is good for bowel motility; however, there is a lack of studies that can show evidence that physical activity could alleviate symptoms in functional constipation. The purpose of interviewing parents about their experiences of physical activity in their children with functional constipation is to gain a deeper understanding of physical activity in their children. Parents of 12 to15 children with functional constipation will be collected at two different pediatric clinics in Sweden to participate in the study. The method will be semistructured individual, in-depth, interviews that are transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Both the manifest and the latent message will be analyzed. The result of this qualitative study can lead to generating new and increased knowledge about children with functional constipation and their physical activity, which can fill a knowledge gap as there is sparse previous research in the area. Knowledge from the planned study could be valuable in the long run to improve care for children with functional constipation and could lead to the physiotherapist becoming part of the team around children with functional constipation. The result from the study could also be used as a basis for future studies in the area.