Parents' experiences of their child's best interests during a hospital stay in Australia

Angela Afua Quaye, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Mandie Foster, School of Clinical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Lisa Whitehead, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Inger Kristensson Hallström, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Abstract

Determining the child's best interests in a hospital setting will ideally involve the combined views of children, parents, and healthcare professionals. However, few studies have explored parents' experiences of their child's best interests when they engage with the healthcare system. Therefore, this study aimed to explore parents' experiences of their child's best interests during hospitalisation. A descriptive qualitative inductive design using face-to-face parent-child combined interviews, analysed by latent content analysis, was used. Sixteen parents recruited from a tertiary hospital in Western Australia were interviewed. Collaboration, development of trustworthy relationships, and effective communication were essential in shaping parents' experiences of their child's best interests during hospitalisation.