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Evaluating the observable effects of foster grandparents on hospitalized children
Insights
Foster Grandparent Programs (FGP) visiting had limited impact on children's hospital behavior. Enhanced FGP strategies, like immediate and continuous presence, may improve outcomes for pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Gerontology
Background:
- Foster Grandparent Programs (FGP) are common in acute care but lack systematic evaluation.
- Parent surrogates, like foster grandparents, may influence pediatric patient behavior.
- Limited research exists on the specific impact of FGPs in acute pediatric settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effects of parent surrogate visits on children in acute care settings.
- To compare the hospital behavior of children with foster grandparents, no visitors, and parental visitors.
- To assess the effectiveness of the Foster Grandparent Program in pediatric acute care.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study of three groups of pediatric patients.
- Behavioral observation of children during hospital stays.
- Statistical analysis of intergroup differences in five behavioral domains.
Main Results:
- Statistically significant differences were found in only one of five behavioral domains.
- Foster Grandparent Program intervention showed weaker results than anticipated compared to previous studies.
- Discrepancies in results may be linked to visitor presence during behavioral observation.
Conclusions:
- Current Foster Grandparent Program implementation in acute care may yield limited behavioral benefits for children.
- Optimizing FGP benefits may involve immediate admission visits, extended duration, and presence during procedures.
- Further research is needed to refine FGP protocols for pediatric acute care settings.
Abstract:
Because Foster Grandparent Programs have been widely implemented in acute care settings but not systematically evaluated, a study was done of the effects that the visiting of parent surrogates had on young children in acute care settings. Three groups of children in such settings were compared: those with foster grandparents, those without visitors, and those visited by their parents. Intergroup differences in the children's hospital behavior reached statistical significance in respect to only one of five behavioral domains investigated. The results of the foster grandparent intervention were found to be relatively weak compared with the results reported in earlier studies. However, it was believed that the discrepancy could be accounted for by the presence or absence of the visitor at the time of observation of the child's behavior. Implications drawn from the study were that greater benefits might be derived from the Foster Grandparent Program at little additional cost if the foster grandparent began visiting immediately upon the child's admission to the hospital, if this visiting extended beyond the current standard 2-hour period, and if the visitor was present at all traumatic medical procedures.