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Nursing staff involvement of children in care activities: A cross-sectional study
Richard Kwaku Bawah1,2, Wahab Osman3,2, Diana Pireh2
1Department of Pediatrics, Division of Nursing & Midwifery, Evangelical Church of Ghana Hospital, Christian Health Association of Ghana, Kpandai, Ghana.
Insights
Nurses in Ghana poorly involve children in their care, despite recognized benefits. Older and male nurses showed higher involvement, highlighting a need for policies to ensure children's participation rights in healthcare.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Child Rights in Healthcare
- Healthcare Policy
Background:
- Children's involvement in care is crucial for quality pediatric services, as emphasized by international guidelines like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- These guidelines affirm children's right to participate in decisions affecting their growth and development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the extent of nursing staff involvement of children in care activities.
- To identify the perceived benefits of children's involvement in care from the nurses' perspective.
Main Methods:
- A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Evangelical Church of Ghana Hospital, Kpandai.
- 97 nursing staff members participated, analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests (p<0.05).
Main Results:
- A majority of nurses (56.7%) demonstrated poor involvement of children in care activities.
- Older nurses (≥30 years) and male nurses showed significantly higher involvement compared to younger and female nurses, respectively.
- Nurses perceived numerous benefits of child involvement for children, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.
Conclusions:
- The level of nurses' involvement of children in care activities was found to be inadequate.
- Development and implementation of national and hospital-level policies are essential to uphold children's rights to participate in their healthcare.
Background:
Nurses' involvement of children in their care is essential to quality pediatric care. Various international guidelines stress the need for children's involvement in decisions and activities affecting their care and lives; widely known among them is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention gives children the right to participate in decisions and activities that affect their growth and development.
Objective:
This study assessed the level of nursing staff involvement of children in care activities and the benefits they perceived from this involvement.
Design:
Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Setting:
Units of Evangelical Church of Ghana Hospital, Kpandai rendering services for children.
Participants:
A total of 116 nursing staff members were invited to participate; 97 (84%) responded. The term "nurses" in this study includes unlicensed nursing assistants, as well as licensed professional nursing staff.
Methods:
Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants' demographic characteristics and the nurses' perceived benefits derived from children's involvement in care activities. A Chi-square test was used to analyze associations between nurses' demographic data and the level of nurses' involvement of children in care activities at a significance level of p< 0.05.
Results:
A majority (56.7%) of the nurses poorly involved children in their care activities. They either involved children to some extent or did not involve children at all. Nurses' age and gender predicted involvement. Older nurses aged 30 and above (56.4%) were more likely to involve children in care activities than those under 30 (26.1%) [p=0.003]. Female nurses (31.7%) were marginally less likely to involve children in their care activities than their male colleagues (51.8%) [p=0.049]. Most of the nurses agreed to several impactful benefits of involving children in care activities, thus benefiting children, caregivers, and health professionals.
Conclusion:
The overall level of nurses' involvement of children in care activities was poor. Policy documents to safeguard children's rights in healthcare involvement must be developed and implemented from the national down to the hospital level to safeguard children's rights to healthcare involvement.
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