Evaluating the Holistic Value of Family-Centred Care in Paediatric Intensive Care Units: A Mixed Methods Study

This study aimed to explore the perceived holistic value of family-centred care (FCC) in Ghanaian paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) from the perspectives of nurses, doctors, and families.

This is a four-phase mixed-methods study that incorporates literature control, qualitative, instrument development, and quantitative survey.

The researchers purposely conducted 12 individual interviews with six PICUs nurses and doctors (three nurses and three doctors) and six families (three fathers and three mothers) with sick children in two PICUs. Thematic analysis was employed to manage the qualitative data. Qualitative findings were used to develop a questionnaire for an electronic survey (n = 100), and the data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, Principal Component Analysis, and commonalities.

The study demonstrates the perceived holistic value of FCC in promoting family-child bonding, reducing family anxiety, reducing workload, promoting recovery, providing timely information, and educating families on childcare processes in intensive care units. Most respondents (95%) agreed with the identified FCC value, indicating broad acceptance. The internal consistency of the holistic value of FCC, as measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient (> 0.82), further validated the results. The primary contextual value identified by Principal Component Analysis was the FCCs role in promoting family education, with a significant Eigenvalue of 3.200 and accounting for 53.337% of the cumulative variance.

FCC practices empower families to continue providing appropriate childcare after discharge, which has been perceived as reducing anxiety, promoting bonding, and fostering good parenting for critically ill children. Participants perceived a high level of agreement that the FCC also shortens hospital stays and reduces workload. To improve the quality of paediatric care in resource-constrained settings, healthcare professionals and policymakers should prioritise implementing FCC practices.

Our findings suggest that FCC integration into PICU could improve quality health outcomes, particularly for children and their families. As such, nurses and doctors may require additional in-service training on FCC integration into the PICU setting. It is proposed that heads of PICUs could modify the set-up to create space for easy FCC integration.

This study is reported using Mixed Methods Reporting in Rehabilitation and Health Sciences.

No patient or public contribution.

The authors have nothing to report.