Busyness as a construct within modern healthcare is complex and multidimensional. To date, few studies have sought to explore how busyness influences family-centred care. This study explored the influence of busyness on the delivery of family-centred care for nurses and parents.
Ethnography was selected as the research design. The study site was a metropolitan tertiary hospital inpatient paediatric unit in Sydney, Australia. Semi-structured interview and non-participant observation techniques were used for data collection. Ten paediatric nurses and 10 parents were interviewed and 40 h of non-participant observations were undertaken. The COREQ was used to report the study.
The findings are presented as three key themes: (i) ‘Supporting family-centred care’ in which participants detail beliefs about the nurse-parent relationships and how despite busyness nurses sought out moments to engage with parents; (ii) ‘Being present at the bedside’ identified the challenges in optimising safety and how parents adapted their way of being and interacting on the unit; and (iii) ‘The emotional cost of busyness’ and how this influenced nurse-parent interactions, care delivery and family-centred care.
The ethnography has given shape to social understandings of busyness, the complexities of paediatric nursing and family-centred care. The culture of care changed in moments of busyness and transformed parent and nursing roles, expectations and collaborative care that at time generated internal emotional conflict and tension.
Given the increasing work demands across health systems, new agile ways of working need to ensure maintenance of a family-centred approach. Strategies need to be developed during periods of busyness to better support collaborative connections and the well-being of paediatric nurses and parents. At an organisational level, fostering a positive workplace culture that shares a vision for family-centred care and collaboration is essential.
Parents of sick children admitted to an acute paediatric inpatient ward were invited to be a participant in a single interview. Parents were aware of the study through ward advertisement and informal discussions with the researchers or senior clinical staff. Engagement with parents was important as healthcare delivery in paediatrics is focused on the delivery of family-centred care. To minimise the risk of child distress and separation anxiety, children were present during the parent interview. Whist children and young people voices were not silenced during the interview process, for this study the parent's voice remained the focus. While important, due to limited resources, parents were not involved in the design analysis or interpretation of the data or in the preparation of this manuscript.
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
To explore patient experiences of intimacy and sexuality in those living with inflammatory bowel disease.
An interpretative phenomenological study guided by van Manen's framework. Thematic analysis was conducted through interpretation and reflection on four existential domains: body, relationships, time and space.
Data were collected during 2019–2021 from 43 participants via face-to-face or telephone interviews, as well as anonymous collection of narratives submitted via Google Forms.
Four themes were identified: Sexuality as lived incompleteness was the overarching theme representing the essence of the experiences of intimacy and sexuality. This theme covered the four main themes: Otherness of the body, Interrupted connectedness, Missing out on life fullness and Fragmented openness and each corresponded to an existential domain. Intimacy and sexuality are negatively affected by inflammatory bowel disease, with impact on quality of life. Patients experienced grieving multiple losses, from body image and control, to choice of partners and future opportunities. The four domains were difficult to separate and a close inter-relationship between each domain was acknowledged.
A model was developed to draw new theoretical insights to understanding the relationship between sexual well-being and psycho-emotional distress similar to grief.
First qualitative study to explore intimacy and sexuality experiences of those living with inflammatory bowel disease. Illness impact on sexuality has negative psycho-emotional implications as a result of losing the old self and capacity to have the desired relationships/sex life. A theoretical model was developed in an attempt to illustrate the close relationship of intimacy, sexuality and psycho-emotional well-being.
Patients were involved in the study design.