Family-centered care for child cancer treatment in Ethiopia-A qualitative descriptive study

Families are the primary source of support and strength in the care process of children with cancer. Family-centered care (FCC) is a healthcare delivery approach that considers parents as both partners and care recipients, characterized by providing care based on dignity and respect, information sharing, participation, and collaboration or partnership.

This study aimed to describe the delivery of care based on the family-centered care approach at the Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital pediatric cancer unit.

An exploratory, descriptive qualitative study was conducted from March 2023 to August 2023. Eighteen participants (thirteen parents and five health care providers) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. The translated transcripts were used for inductive, data-driven thematic analysis. ATLAS.ti 9 software was used to assist the analysis process.

Two themes have emerged during the analysis. These are (1) Information sharing, and (2) Enabling and partnership. Under the information sharing theme, we described parents' understanding of child cancer, parents' information-related expectations, the process of obtaining information, adequacy of information received, and factors inhibiting information sharing. Under the enabling and partnership theme, we presented family participation in childcare, discussion among parents, parents' communication with healthcare providers and psychosocial support.

Suboptimal implementation of family-centered care practice was identified at the pediatric oncology unit.

The findings from this study indicate the need to strengthen the provision of child cancer-related information, improve communication, and strengthen family participation in childcare.