Perceived Importance of Needs Expressed by Parents of Hospitalized Two‐ to Six‐Year‐Olds

Gudrún Kristjánsdóttir*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The study describes the needs of 34 parents, 12 fathers and 22 mothers, of hospitalized 2–6 year‐olds in a Pediatric Hospital in Iceland. Subjects responded to 43 statements of possible needs during a child's hospitalization on a Likert‐type scale based on their perception of the importance of items. The reliability coefficient was over 0.91 for all three parts of the instrument. Parents' perception of importance was significantly and positively correlated with their perception of how their needs were being met and with their request for help from the hospital to fulfil them. None of the statements were perceived to be unimportant. Items related to parents' need to trust nurses and doctors were consistently rated as very important. Items related to the need for information and needs related to other family members were consistently rated as lying between important and very important. Needs related to human and physical resources, and the need for support and guidance were in general rated lowest. Items related to the need to be trusted had a mean importance significantly (p < 0.01) lower for fathers. Although not exhaustive, the statements presented were found to be representative of the needs and concerns of parents during the hospitalization of their children. 1995 Nordic College of Caring Science (NCCS)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)95-103
Number of pages9
JournalScandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 1995

Other keywords

  • hospitalized children
  • need assessment
  • parents

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