Parent and staff perceptions of family-centred care in two Australian children’s hospitals

Abstract

Aim: This paper is a report of the comparison of perceptions of family-centred care by hospital staff (nurses, doctors and allied health staff) and parents of hospitalised children in two Australian tertiary paediatric hospitals.Background: Family-centred care is an accepted approach to caring for children and their families in hospital. Previous publications have been inconsistent, ranging from promoting its benefits and integration into practice, reporting operational difficulties and proposing that family-centred care may not be working at all. An evaluation of the model of care is long overdue. Method: A quantitative comparative cross-sectional survey was used to collect data in 2010 from a convenience sample of 309 parents of hospitalised children and 519 staff. Participants rated 20 items grouped into three subscales of respect, collaboration and support.Findings: Both parents and staff responses were positive and parents had significantly higher subscale scores for respect, collaboration and support (all p<0.0001). Parents’ responses for 19 of the 20 items were significantly higher than for staff. The item on which parents and staff did not differ was concerned with being able to question recommendations about the child’s treatment. Conclusion: Both parents and staff had positive perceptions of their family-centred care experiences. Parents’ perception of their experience was more positive than staff perceptions of their delivery of family-centred care in hospital. Whilst the positive experience by both consumers and healthcare providers is an important finding, reasons for differences, in particular in supporting parents, require further examination.

What Is “Family-Centred Care”?

“…Several studies, completed and underway, are measuring health staff's attitudes to working with children and working with their parents [25][26][27][28]. To date, all have found that staff score working with children significantly more positively than working with their parents.…”

Family-centred care in cystic fibrosis: a pilot study in North Queensland, Australia

“…• Do the Perceptions of Family Centered Care -Parent' (PFCC-P)' and the 'Perceptions of Family Centered Care -Staff (PFCC-S)' (Gill et al, 2013;Shields & Tanner, 2004) questionnaires work in rural and remote populations?…”

“…The tenets of centrality and importance of the family in child healthcare planning, make FCC an ideal model for a chronic paediatric condition such as CF (Kuhlthau et al, 2011). While studies have compared perceptions of FCC between parents and health professionals in the paediatric setting (Gill, Pascoe, Monterosso, Young, Burr, Tanner & Shields 2013), there have been no studies examining perceptions of FCC held by parents of children with CF in Australia or elsewhere.…”

Parent and staff perceptions of parental needs during a child's hospital admission to a paediatric high‐dependency unit: A New Zealand study

“…27,40 Similarly, in Jordan, parents within a critical care or oncology area reported mixed satisfaction scores for information, 35,41 and parents in an Australian general or neonatal area reported a higher perception than staff of FCC delivery. 42,43 In line with needs being met, significant differences (P < 0.05) were reported for 49 needs in Sweden, 25 44 needs in Australia 28 and 42 needs in England 26 when more staff than parents perceived that parents needed assistance, whereas in Iceland and New Zealand, more parents than staff perceived help was needed for 27 needs. 27,40 The difference in perceptions of needs being met or needed appeared to be influenced by the level of perceived importance of the need and the individual demographic variables.…”