Family-centeredness of the Children's Health Care journal

The extent to which authors of Children's Health Care articles showed increased attention to the elements of family-centered care following the publication of Shelton, Jeppson, and Johnson's (1987) book Family-Centered Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs was examined. A total of 223 parent-oriented and family-oriented articles published during the 1980 to 1991 period were analyzed. The findings showed greater incorporation of family-centered notions into published articles after versus before publication of the Shelton et al. book, although the year in which changes occurred and the magnitude of the changes were quite variable for different elements of care. In cases where increased attention was paid to the elements of care, different subsets of elements were more likely to be attended to by different authors.