The desire of parents to be involved and present

• BackgroundIntensive care of children means not only caring for a child; it means care for the whole family.AimThe aim of the study was to describe parents' experiences of having a critically ill child in an intensive care unit (ICU).ParticipantsA purposive sample of seven parents who had their child treated in an ICU during 2012 in Sweden.DesignThe design uses an inductive, qualitative approach with data collected by means of qualitative interviews.MethodsThe interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe analysis resulted in one theme: the desire of parents to be involved and present, with four categories such as wanting to understand and know what is happening, feeling frustration about their child's care and treatment, a health care environment that arouses emotions, and needs for support and processing.ConclusionIt is of great importance to parents to be informed continuously about their child's condition and the care and treatment that are planned. This may increase parents' sense of ownership, control and security.Relevance to clinical practiceProviding answers to those questions that can be answered and being available to parents when they have questions about their critically ill child, the meaning of it all, and what the future will hold are suggested in clinical practice.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Nursing

Omvårdnad

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)