Abstract:
Family-centered care is widely accepted as an important concept within
the delivery of care for pediatric patients. For effective implementation, health
care professionals need to correctly perceive and understand this concept. The
aim of this survey study has therefore been to examine perception and practice of
family-centered care in health care professionals, and to investigate the
relationship between selected factors (age, number of years working in the
profession, working position, and type of pediatric wards) and perception of
family-centered care. A total of 198 health care professionals working in
pediatric wards at Ramathibodi Hospital, who were professional nurses, practical
nurses, administrative nurses, and educational nurses, were recruited for the
study. The study used the Perception and Practice of Family-Centered Care
Questionnaire consisting of 45 questions from the Likert scale. Data were
analyzed by using Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Eta.
Results indicate that health care professionals have had a high level of
perception and moderate level of practice of family-centered care. Moreover, a
statistically positive relationship was illustrated between the perception and the
practice of family-centered care (r = 0.41, p < 0.01). Additionally, a positive
relationship was also noted between age and perception of family-centered care
(r = 0.147, p < .05), the number of years working in the profession and
perception of family-centered care (r = 0.157, p < .05), and the working position
and perception of family-centered care (Eta = 0.35, p < .05). On the other hand,
the type of pediatric wards had a correlation with the perception of familycentered
care, but it was not statically significant.
Since the results suggest that age, the number of years working in the
profession, and the working position were correlated with perception of familycentered
care, any intervention to increase perception of family-centered care
should focus on these factors.