BACKGROUND: Family-centered care (FCC) involves holistic care and requires cooperation with the family in planning, intervention, and the evolution of the care that is being provided. Many previous studies have provided results that indicate the importance of the family's involvement in pediatric care, but there is still resistance in doing so within the organizational culture of the hospitals in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of FCC on the satisfaction of parents of children hospitalized in 2012 in the pediatric ward at Razi Hospital in Chaloos, Iran.
METHODS: This Quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2012 in the pediatric ward at Razi Hospital in Chaloos, Iran. Seventy hospitalized children between the ages of 1 and 3 who suffered from diarrhea, vomiting, or pneumonia were selected through convenience sampling. They were divided randomly into two equal groups, a control group (routine care) and an experimental group (family-centered care). SPSS Statistics 14 software was used to analyze the data, and p<0.05 was considered to be significant.
RESULTS: In the FCC group, the mean score of satisfaction among the parents of the children was 20 out of 90 before the intervention, but, after the FCC method was used, it increased to 83.2 out of 90. In addition, a significant difference was found between the scores of satisfaction for the control and experimental groups (p<0.001), and all parents of children in the experimental group expressed high satisfaction.
CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that the practice of FCC in caring for the sick children can increase the satisfaction of their parents significantly. The role of the family's involvement is critical in every component of the intervention efforts, as shown by the constructs of participatory support, educational support, and psychological support. Thus, a notable implication here is that FCC may lead to increased quality of care and should be included in the educational programs of the nursing staff in pediatric ward.
KEYWORDS: Family-centered care; Iran; Nursing; Parents; Pediatric