Parents’ experiences of family-centered care practices

Purpose: The aim of this study was to gain knowledge and understanding of how parents experience Family Centred Care (FCC) using a relatively new tool, and to identify aspects of FCC practice for further development.
Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study involving a convenience sample of 48 parents of hospitalised children completed a seven-item instrument that measures importance and consistency associated with the core aspects of FCC practice, in addition to an open-ended question about what does FCC mean to parent.
Results: Eighty-five percent of parents reported positive experiences of receiving FCC practice from nurses, with lower consistency reported in parents’ feelings of being seen as important in their child’s care, feeling valued as a team member, or well cared for by nurses. Parents definition of FCC were concise and involved informal expressions such as allowing parents to stay with their hospitalised child, and family inclusion in child’s care and care for the whole family.
Conclusions: Although recent FCC debate represent the ‘unit of care’ in FCC as ‘a child within the family context’, parents’ perspectival view of FCC places themselves as care recipient with a strong understanding of the ideals of partnership-in-care.
Practice implications: Nurses and service providers can use current findings to promote the consistent application of Family Centred Care in their everyday practice, and to recognise current barriers to the effective implementation of Family Centred Care in nursing practice.