This thesis develops our understanding of childhood illness and care through an examination of the types of care which were provided to children who suffered from common diseases and conditions in the eighteenth century. My research establishes that domestic care remained the norm throughout the eighteenth century, even though institutional care grew both in terms of its scope and the numbers treated in this period. This study reveals that Newton’s concept of ‘children’s physic’ retained its importance in the domestic setting. The development of institutions did not radically change the manner in which children received care. Although there was a clear move towards paediatrics in institutions, particularly those which opened in the latter part of the century, children treated by the Foundling Hospital, metropolitan workhouses, and dispensaries often received out-patient care that allowed them to be treated within a domestic setting. Approached through the prism of disease and disease categories, this thesis provides valuable insights into eighteenth-century views of health, childhood, and the body. The conditions examined in the thesis were diseases which regularly affected children during the eighteenth century. Childhood morbidity and mortality sometimes motivated medical experimentation on children. Through an examination of the care provided to children who suffered from certain conditions, and the experiments carried out upon them, the thesis provides a clearer understanding as to how children, their bodies, and the medical care that they required, were perceived during the eighteenth century. Aside from a focus on regimen, there was no standardisation in the care of sick children prior to the nineteenth century. The recommended regimen for children was linked to the non-naturals, placed an emphasis on moderation, and was designed with the maintenance and restoration of balance in mind. An analysis of the care provided to sick children in the eighteenth century illuminates a period of incomplete transition from ‘children’s physic’ to paediatrics. Although the origins of paediatrics are usually located in the nineteenth century, this thesis argues that the increased interest shown in children’s diseases, and the experiments undertaken on children, demonstrate that the roots of paediatric care were laid in the eighteenth century.

Background: Injuries include potentially life-threatening problems associated with increased hospital admission and permanent disability among children, with considerable financial, emotional and social effects on the child and the family as well as on the community and society as a whole. The preventability of injuries through adopting a variety of interventions necessitates stakeholders (e.g. parents, health professionals and policymakers) supporting and implementing such interventions. There is paucity of evidence in Iran regarding the needs for controlling home injuries among children. Objectives: To explore the practice of parents, health professionals and policy makers associated with the prevention of home injuries among urban children under 5 years; and to identify barriers to and facilitators of success for such practices in Iran. Methods: A generic qualitative approach was adopted with home observation and semi-structured interviews undertaken with: 18 parents attending urban health centres in Tehran for childhood immunization; 28 health professionals whose scope of duty was child health and safety and working in the urban health centres; and 19 policymakers working as top-level managers in different organisations concerned with child health and safety. The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Children are living in hazardous environments which increase their risk for home injuries. All parents adopted a range of insufficient child proofing measures at the study time. They need to be supported, particularly financially and educationally, to enhance the safety level of their homes. Health professionals can potentially be supportive to meet their needs, but practice is hampered by the lack of a comprehensive national strategy. Policymakers who are responsible for tackling this problem have confronted barriers at the individual (e.g. lack of awareness) and societal (e.g. lack of rules and enforcement) levels. Conclusion: Child home injury is a complex and multifaceted subject whose prevention is affected by a wide range of facilitators and barriers to be considered in developing new strategies and revising the current initiatives. This study has implications for advocating policies that improve safety culture throughout society as well as mobilizing communities to solve the issue.