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Professional organizations and governments recommend child and adolescent involvement in cancer treatment decision making (TDM) despite minimal evidence that children prefer involvement, how best to include them, and the result of doing so.

Using descriptive qualitative research methods, we interviewed 20 children ages 9–17 years about their TDM preferences and experiences. We shifted our conceptualizations as findings emerged about how children with cancer viewed their decisional experiences. Results from constant comparative analysis of participant interviews yielded a new construct, “Having a say, as I need at this time” (‘Having a Say’), which focuses more broadly on child communication preferences and the dynamism of those preferences. Ten additional interviews confirmed ‘Having a Say’ results.

Children's contextually related ‘Having a Say’ preferences …