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Parents' experiences of their child's admission to paediatric intensive care

Parents' experiences of their child's admission to paediatric intensive care
Parents' experiences of their child's admission to paediatric intensive care
Background: Admission of a child to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) may be one of the most stressful events for parents because the outcome is often uncertain. So how do parents cope, and how can we as nurses help them?

Aim: To explore the lived experiences of parents whose children have been admitted to a PICU.

Methods: Using Heidegger's school of interpretative phenomenology, six unstructured interviews were conducted. These were transcribed and analysed following interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants were chosen through purposive sampling.

Findings: Each participant had different emergent themes. Themes included trauma, responsibility, anxiety about where the child is, post-traumatic stress symptoms and transfer to the ward.

Conclusion: The lived experience of a parent is fraught with varying different emotions, with the beginning of the journey and the ending of the PICU admission causing the most anxiety.
2046-2336
16-21
Oxley, Ruth
f175bfc1-4012-4b40-a01f-3269df9d3ad8
Oxley, Ruth
f175bfc1-4012-4b40-a01f-3269df9d3ad8

Oxley, Ruth (2015) Parents' experiences of their child's admission to paediatric intensive care. Nursing Children and Young People, 27 (4), 16-21. (doi:10.7748/ncyp.27.4.16.e564).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Admission of a child to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) may be one of the most stressful events for parents because the outcome is often uncertain. So how do parents cope, and how can we as nurses help them?

Aim: To explore the lived experiences of parents whose children have been admitted to a PICU.

Methods: Using Heidegger's school of interpretative phenomenology, six unstructured interviews were conducted. These were transcribed and analysed following interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants were chosen through purposive sampling.

Findings: Each participant had different emergent themes. Themes included trauma, responsibility, anxiety about where the child is, post-traumatic stress symptoms and transfer to the ward.

Conclusion: The lived experience of a parent is fraught with varying different emotions, with the beginning of the journey and the ending of the PICU admission causing the most anxiety.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 December 2014
Published date: May 2015

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 479271
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479271
ISSN: 2046-2336
PURE UUID: fb102d58-53eb-470d-9fee-9544e46fd6d5

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Date deposited: 20 Jul 2023 16:51
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 01:00

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Author: Ruth Oxley

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