AN OBSERVATION STUDY OF THE LEVEL AT WHICH PARENTS
PARTICIPATE IN DECISIONS DURING THEIR CHILD扴
HOSPITALISATION
Hallstr鰉 I*, Runeson, I**,
Elander G**
*Dept
of Pediatrics/Dept of Caring Sciences
**Dept
of Medical Ethics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
When a child is hospitalized, the
parents find themselves in an unfamiliar environment and their parental
role changes. Parents are in a stressful and often anxiety-filled situation
and it may be difficult for them to participate in decisions. The purpose
of this study was to examine the extent to which parents participate in
decisions during the course of events when their child is hospitalized.
Thirty-five parents of 24 children (aged 5 months to 18 years) were
followed by mobile observations during their child抯 hospitalization at a pediatric
department in Sweden. Three researchers analyzed field notes in three
steps, using manifest and latent coding. In step one 119 situations were
identified which included a decision process. In step two the situations
were assessed according to a five-level scale concerning how the parent抯 wishes, desires or values had
been respected. At level 1, the staff member (A) refuses to listen to the
parent抯 (B)
opinions, wishes, and valuation! s. At level 5, A acts in accordance with B抯 opinions, wishes, and
valuations. Thirty-two situations were assessed as level 1, five situations
as level 2, 21 situations as level 3, 14 situations as level 4, and 47
situations as level 5. In step three, every situation was scrutinized with
respect to factors influencing the extent of the parent抯 participation. The most important factors found
concerned how explicitly parents explained their needs and how sensitive
the staffs were to parents? Sometimes vaguely expression needs. The results
emphasized that parents have varying abilities to be involved in
decision-making. Professionals need to communicate more openly with parents
in order to identify and satisfy their needs, as some parents are unwilling
or incapable of expressing them.
Key words: children, decision-making,
parents, participating.