A nursing assessment standard for early intervention: family coping

Professional standards of practice provide a basis for valid and reliable assessments and quality assurance. The purpose of this case study research was to evaluate a nursing standard, Family Coping, in two families with an infant with cerebral palsy. An assessment protocol was developed from the Family Coping standard and provided the basis for a comprehensive assessment. The case study provided the format and methodologies for implementing the assessment protocol. Patterns of family coping were derived from data collection that occurred at different times and through the use of multiple methods and respondents. The findings of this study confirmed the value of multiple sources of evidence for deriving a diagnosis from which a plan of treatment could be developed. The Family Coping standard proved to be useful for nursing practice by providing a theoretically and empirically based standard for guiding the assessment of family coping.