Disrupting the Status Quo: A New Theoretical Vision for the Child Life Profession

Pediatric patient populations are changing and healthcare environments are becoming increasingly more complex. Child life professionals must adapt to the realities of today’s healthcare spaces if they hope to make a difference in the lives of hospitalized children and their families. This paper explores some of the challenges associated with the current ways of thinking and theoretical orientations, which can impede professional growth and psychosocial care as a whole. For example, practice and scholarship continue to be guided by developmental theories, with little regard for how race and other social determinants may affect child health outcomes. As a way forward, child life professionals must consider engaging in a paradigmatic shift whereby new theories and approaches can address the realities of racial disparities and reject the antiquated views of childhood embedded within established developmental theories.