Health care workers' role conceptions and orientation to family-centered child care

This study, designed as a correlation survey, was predicated on the existence of belief systems and on the premise that health care workers' orientation to family-centered care can reflect the openness or closedness of their belief systems. It was hypothesized that health care workers' orientation to family-centered child care is directly related to their professional role conception and inversely related to their employee role conception. The two hypotheses were tested on a sample of nursing and medical personnel associated with restorative and preventive care of children in inpatient and outpatient settings in New York City, central Pennsylvania, and the Philippines. Three sets of Likert-type scales were used for data collection from 1974 through 1976. Data were analyzed by correlation technique and the F test. Findings supported the hypotheses, and some demographic factors were found to be reliable predictors of health workers' orientation to family-centered child care and their conception of the professional or employee role. Implications of the findings for nursing practice and education, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.