Parent participation in the care of hospitalized child in Thai and Western cultures.

This integrated literature review provides state-of-the-science information regarding parent participation in the care of hospitalized child. The database search revealed only 12 articles on this subject published between 1996-2002. Ganong's (1987) integrative research review process guided this study, and the matrix method of Garrard (1999) was modified to develop the data collection tool. The rules of inference for data analysis and interpretation were identified. Research outcomes were systematically analyzed and reported using a qualitative descriptive approach. Three major themes emerged from the investigation: parents, nurses, and child care interactions. As there were both similar and different findings between Thai and Western cultures, cultural differences regarding parent participation in the care of hospitalized child must be considered in future investigations. Because cultural competence in parent participation has not been well addressed in the literature, further research is needed to delineate the cultural underpinnings of parent participation in the care of hospitalized child.