Family-centered care: current realities in parent participation

Family-centered care is currently one of pediatric nursing's most dynamic and challenging philosophies. The concept of parent participation in family-centered practice has become a central tenet of pediatric nursing for the 21st century. Inhospital and home health care interventions have shifted now to recognize families' involvement in care as central to a child's care. Despite roots dating as early as the 1950s, the family-centered care approach still carries with it a myriad of challenges related to parental participation, including issues of role stress, negotiation failure, and power struggles. Although the application of theory in family-centered care practice has been discussed in the literature, implementing parent participation in family-centered care still needs to be refined. Case examples provide an educational strategy for nurses to discuss facilitating effective practice of family-centered care. This strategy also includes developing expertise in communication using models such as the LEARN framework to promote collaborative nurse-family relationships.