Caregivers’ perception regarding parental participation in care of hospitalised children at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi
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Date
2015-10-01
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Abstract
Parental participation is one of the cornerstones of pediatric practice. Evidence from literature has shown that effective parental participation depends on caregivers’ preparedness, adequate communication between caregivers and Health Care Workers
(HCW) and the negotiation process. Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) is the
major referral hospital for the country and caregivers stay with their children in the hospital and participate in the care. However, little is known about the perception of these caregivers regarding their participation in the care of their hospitalised children. The study aimed to explore caregivers’ perception regarding parental participation in the care of their hospitalised children at QECH. A descriptive qualitative design using a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from 20 caregivers in the pediatric department and thematic analysis was done guided by the Colaizzi method. Seven main themes emerged from the data and these were lack of role negotiation by health care workers, inadequate role preparation for caregivers, care given by caregivers to their hospitalised children, poor HCWs- Caregivers communication, benefits of caregivers’ participation in the care of hospitalised children, needs of caregivers participating in the care of hospitalised children and overall impression of caregiver’s participation. The study findings showed that caregivers view their participation in hospitalised child care as appropriate, important and satisfying. However, gaps exist in the way caregivers participate in the care of their hospitalised children due to inadequate role negotiation, role preparation for caregivers and inadequate information for caregivers. Given this, it is recommended that management should develop protocols and guidelines for the implementation of parental participation in the care of hospitalised children to promote best practices.