Nursing Care Behaviors Perceived by Parents of Hospitalized Children: A Qualitative Study

Background The professional nurses’ activities, behaviors, and manners are classified as nursing care behaviors. Nurses spend considerable amounts of time taking care of patients and their families; however, their opinions about their caring behaviors are different from the care receivers’ views. Hence, this study aimed to elaborate the nursing care behaviors perceived by the parents of hospitalized children. Materials and Methods This qualitative study was a conventional content analysis. Eighteen parents of hospitalized childrenin Yazd hospitals (Governmental and Private) were selected on the basis of a purposive sampling method and interviewed using the semi-structured interview (with the questions such as : "Why was your child hospitalized in this ward?", "How was the nurses’ behavior during the hospitalization regarding nursing care?"). The data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. Results The data analysis resulted in the main theme of "fluctuation of trust in care", comprising the 8 subcategories of themes including "relieving/agitating presence", "attraction/rejection of parental participation", "respecting/ disrespecting" and "constructive/agitating communication". Conclusion The parents of hospitalized children are experiencing a variety of caring behaviors that might build or destroy their trust in nursing cares. Therefore, modification of caring behaviors can promote parents’- trust and their consequent satisfaction with the nursing cares.