Measuring family-centred care: working with children and their parents in a Turkish hospital

Abstract

Rationale, aims and objectives: Family-centred care is the model of care in most children’s hospitals, but is difficult to measure. This study examined health professionals’ attitudes to working with children and with parents in a Turkish hospital. It builds on previous studies, using the same questionnaire, to test a component of family-centred care. Method: The “Working with Families” questionnaire contains scores for working with children and parents and demographic questions. Nurses, doctors and allied health staff working with children in a Turkish paediatric hospital were asked to complete this anonymous questionnaire (response rate 91%). We used Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare the two scores; the influence of demographic characteristics was tested with ANOVA. Results: Participants (N=205) gave more positive mean scores for working with children (4.242, SD=0.53) than parents (2.26, SD=0.8) (p<0.05). Influencing factors were similar to other studies, except for participants having children of their own - those with children gave a less positive mean score for working with parents than working with children (p=0.003); holding a specialist paediatric qualification had a similar effect (p<0.001). Conclusion: Similarly to other studies in this series, health professionals were much more positive about working with children than parents, with much stronger differences. Questions about the applicability of family-centred care as a model of care in this Turkish hospital arise. Theoretically, if family-centred care was being implemented effectively, there would be no difference. Education about family-centred care is needed, as well as further research to investigate why these differences occur.

Family-centred practices of healthcare professionals in three emergency departments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Family choice and action Responses in this cluster of PIs indicate that the respondents did not always use practices that encourage family participation and decisionmaking in the illness experience. In a study in Turkey, Shields et al [5] found that the family of patients in the ED wanted to partner with healthcare professionals, which suggests that participatory practices should be considered when planning FCC. Just over half of the respondents in the current study indicated that they partnered with family members to identify and subsequently address their desires.…”

“…Other challenges include the limited understanding of FCC principles by healthcare professionals and communication difficulties. [4,5] In South Africa (SA), trauma accounts for the greatest number of unnatural deaths and disabilities in emergency departments (EDs). [6] The initial management of a critical illness occurs in the ED, which results in emergency care and critical care being considered as one in the continuum of acute care.…”

Issues in Implementing Family Centred Care in Pediatrics and New Approaches

“…46 Bu konuda sağlık personelinin, çocuklar ve ebeveynler ile birlikte çalışmayı nasıl algıladıklarını ölçen çeşitli çalışmalar yapılmıştır. 9,22,24,46,47 Ülkemizde bir üniversite hastanesinin pediatri kliniklerinde, 2014 yılında yapılan aile merkezli bakıma ilişkin uluslararası karşılaştırmalı bir çalışmada; hemşire, hekim ve yardımcı sağlık personelinin, çocuk ve ebeveynler ile birlikte çalışmayı nasıl algıladıkları incelenmiştir. 9,47 Türkiye'de 11 klinikte toplam 85 hemşire, 75 hekim ve 45 yardımcı sağlık personeli üzerinde yapılan çalışmada, sağlık personelinin çocuklarla birlikte çalışmaya ilişkin puan ortalamaları (4,24), ebeveynlere göre (2,27) daha yüksek bulunmuştur.…”

Family‐centred service: Perspectives of paediatric residents from a non‐Western country

“…The concept of FCS emerged from Western countries, and there are several reports investigating the implementation of FCS in non‐Western societies (Al‐Motlaq, Abuidhail, Salameh, & Awwad, ; Al‐Motlaq & Shields, ; Himuro, Miyagishima, Kozuka, Tsutsumi, & Mori, ; Kang, Palisano, Simeonsson, & Hwang, ; Linda Shields, Çavuşoğlu, Pars, & Mamun, ; Tang, Chong, Goh, Chan, & Choo, ). In Turkey, neither the Ministry of Health nor state and private hospitals have developed health policies or institutional regulations on family‐centred practices yet (Feeg et al, ).…”