New research from Dr Ashleigh E. Butler has revealed gaps in how family-centred care is understood in paediatric healthcare.
“Family-centred care, where families are considered key partners in the care of their ill child, is a core concept of paediatric healthcare worldwide,” she explains.
“However, while family centred care is a cornerstone of quality paediatric care, there is considerable variation in how it is understood, operationalised and evaluated.”
Dr Butler and a team of researchers from La Trobe’s School of Nursing and Midwifery have undertaken a scoping review to help address this gap, analysing more than more than 500 articles.
The review revealed that mothers participated in family-centred care studies more often than fathers, while siblings, grandparents and extended family members were rarely included.
Across healthcare professionals, nurses were the most common participants in family-centred care research across all study types, highlighting the limited representation of allied health and other disciplines.
Dr Butler says a key finding was the lack of consensus around how family centred care was defined.
“Only half of the included studies provided a definition of family centred care and, of those, more than six different authorship bodies were referenced. This lack of agreement can make it difficult to compare studies or apply findings consistently in practice.”
Dr Butler says the implications of this research are significant for clinical practice, policy and future research.
“Our findings challenge the prevailing assumption that family-centred care is universally understood, urging stakeholders to critically reflect on how it is defined, delivered and evaluated.”
“This review also calls for more rigorous and reflective research that includes the voices of children and diverse families, as well as allied healthcare providers.”
