Parents' Challenges beyond the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Fraying at the Seams while Balancing between Two...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nursing
• Family-centered care
• Parental well-being

Background:

• Traditional research on parental responses to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) hospitalization overlooks challenges outside the hospital environment.
• Parents face concurrent stressors beyond the immediate PICU setting that impact their experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe parents' experiences of managing home and hospital environments during a child's PICU admission.
• To examine the impact of this dual responsibility on parents' lives.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 parents whose children were admitted to a PICU.
• Grounded theory guided the data analysis and interpretation.

Main Results:

• Parents described "Fraying at the Seams while Balancing between Two Worlds, Home and Hospital."
• Key themes included "Bringing My Life to a Halt" and "Throwing Our Whole Life Off."

Conclusions:

• Parents felt emotionally and physically stretched, struggling to manage responsibilities for their hospitalized child and children at home.
• The strain of balancing these two worlds led to feelings of inadequacy in their parental roles.