Pediatric Nurses' Perspectives on Family-Centered Care in Sri Lanka: A Mixed-Methods Study

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate nurses’ perceptions and performance of family-centered care (FCC) at a children’s hospital in Sri Lanka and to explore the feasibility of implementing FCC in the context of the Sri Lankan healthcare system. METHODS: A convergent, parallel, mixed-methods design was applied to understand Sri Lankan nurses’ perspectives on FCC. In total, 157 nurses working at a large teritagy children’s hospital responded to a self-report survey and 18 nurses participated in focus group interviews. RESULTS: Of the factors of FCC, family participation in caring for children received the highest score (4.09±0.51) for perceptions, and information-sharing received the highest score (3.54±0.55) for performance. The qualitative data revealed the following five themes: (a) importance of the family in caring for children; (b) helping families during children’s hospitalization; (c) taking steps to implement FCC, even with imperfect knowledge; (d) barriers in the current situation; and (e) suggested strategies to promote FCC. CONCLUSION: Participants endorsed the concept of FCC and demonstrated some aspects of it in their day-to-day practice. The results indicate a clear knowledge deficit and several challenges, which need to be addressed to effectively implement FCC.