HEALTHY CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR BLOOD - IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPLAINING LEUKEMIA TO CHILDREN

Explanations of leukaemia to children usually include details of blood function and structure. In study 1, 3-year-olds (N=25),4-year-olds (N =25), and 8-year-olds (N=27) were interviewed about their understandin g of the Properties of blood and any occasions when they remembered se eing blood. They were also asked whether other animals and objects had blood or not, and to give reasons for this. Children justified their decisions in three ways: only people have blood, they had seen blood o n a particular occasion, or only creatures which shared a human proper ty (walking or talking) could have blood. In study 2, an intervention to increase children's understanding of the function of different bloo d cells is reported. It was partially successful. Children who reporte d an incident in which they saw blood were more likely to recall infor mation about the function of red cells, white cells and platelets comp ared with children who did not report a previous experience (p<.001). In terms of explaining leukaemia to a child, we conclude that explanat ions should build on previous experience, and not be based simply on c hronological age.