Psychometric Evaluation of the Family-Centered Care Scale

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Critical Evaluating of the research methodology
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Curley, Hansberger and Harris (2013) major concern was the lack of measures that take into account the parents’ experiences in family-centered nursing care. As caring for families are becoming more fundamental in pediatric nursing, measures that take into consideration of the parents’ experiences are critical in nursing care. The authors of this article argue that current measures lack the parents’ experiences and should be included particularly in family centered-nursing care. The researchers’ main objective was to explain how the Family-Centered Care Scale (FCCS) that takes into consideration the parents experiences could initially be developed and tested. According to the researchers, the Family-Centered Care Scale developed is a seven-item tool intended to determine parents’ understanding of treatment and care that exemplify central values of family-centered care. In essence, the researchers tended to answer the question whether such a scale could be developed and tested in order to be practiced.

Curley, Hansberger and Harris (2013) conducted their studies in three phases to establish the claimed reliant Family-Centered Care Scale. In the first phase of their study, eighteen items were designed to find explanations on how nurses engage parents of children being hospitalized. The second phase was designed to add more items in the instrument and refine the perceived outcomes in the first phase. The results of the two phases were studied and all the items in the instrument were summarized into seven-item scale. The researchers tested the seven-item scale for validity.

In the study, the results indicated high internal consistent reliability in all the versions of the scale and in all the phases. The researchers performed confirmatory factor analysis using the data drawn from subsequent sampled studies to support their findings. The researchers claim that there is direct relationship between the scale consistency scores and the overall ratings in quality care. The findings support the hypothesis of the scale validity. Further, the researchers claim that the findings support the need to have Family-Centered Care Scale for parents with hospitalized children. The findings further indicate the validity and reliability of the Family-Centered Care Scale.

Critical Evaluating of the research methodology

The research methodologies used to arrive at the results have some faults. The researchers were limited in providing the reviewed literature in the topic to ascertain their claims. In other words, the researchers disregarded the aspect of secondary information. The secondary data is an important aspect in the causal relationship studies. The literature in related studies provides an insight on the research topic as well as findings of other researchers. The analyses of such findings are useful in providing new and clear concepts that explain the dynamics of the study, set up main concerns, build up on operational explanations and improve on the final research design. However, the researchers provide a brief introduction of the topic based on some few peer-reviewed articles. Even though the study was designed to be purely quantitative, the qualitative aspect is also critical in determining the study outcomes.

Further, the researchers claim that the study is based on the current health issue is debatable. The parent-nurse relationship regarding the family care is an aspect of nursing issue that has been studied for some time. Even though the aspect being studied is novel in this field, currently, it is not one of the major issues in nursing. In addition, there is close relationship between family-centered care and the evidence based practices, which is the major current issues in nursing. However, the study is critical in establishing the Family-Centered Care Scale, which is fundamental in the family-centered care studies. Further, the scale so far developed is also important in capturing parents’ experiences particularly in pediatric nursing.

The researchers chose the experimental research design to ascertain the validity of their purported hypothesis. The variables in the study were qualitative, however, the researchers established methods through which they can be quantified and tested. In this study, the variables were tested in three phases to establish the validity. Further, to establish the conclusion, the researchers tested the results in various institutions to validate the results.

The research design methodology was purely quantitative aimed at testing the validity and reliability of important aspects of the study to establish the relationships that exists. The researchers selected the study participants through the random sampling procedure. In fact, the random sampling procedure is the best method to select the study participants since it does not show any bias in the process. Throughout their study, the researchers ensured that they stick to the study rules and guidelines. Moreover, they ensured the research instruments were tested before the actual field survey. During the first phase, the eighteen-item scale was administered to a suitable trial of 91 parents of hospitalized children. Similarly, the final seven-item scale was administered to 454 parents of inpatient children. The samples were drawn randomly from all inpatient units within the children hospital.

Even though the sampling procedure seemed to be unbiased, the sample was too small and non-representative. In fact, the sample was drawn majorly from two children hospital and the participants were majorly White non-Hispanic. As such, the sample did not capture the views of the parents of inpatient children in a wider scale.

There is need for further researches on this area. In particular, the studies conducted using larger group to ascertain results for adoption. The study is limited to inform the full adoption of the results. In fact, the scrutiny of the research results indicated a two-factor arrangement. The first relates to the way nurses provide the patients’ care and the other on how the nurses relate to the children care (Curley et al, 2013). The factor arrangements are supported by the research results irrespective of the respondents’ type or characteristics. Even though the results are positive, the study results should be considered preliminary for full application of the results in practice.

Quite observable is the researchers’ clarity and consistency in their communication skills that makes the article more understable. However, some of the items are coalesced particularly, on the part of the results bringing out ambiguity in some important information. Moreover, in the discussion, the researchers concentrated on their personal view instead of the research results.

As purported by the researchers, there is need for further study in this area. The studies so far conducted have not fully developed the Family-Centered Care Scale to be adopted in assessing the relationships in pediatric nursing care and the parents’ experiences. Since the sample size in this study was too small, further studies need to be conducted using larger groups to ascertain the results (Curley et al, 2013). Moreover, further studies are needed to establish new items considered important in Family-Centered Care Scale consistency ratings. Despite these shortcomings, the study is quite practicable particularly in family-centered measures. The reason is that the study provides a basic framework in which the parents’ experiences in the pediatric nursing are gauged. In addition, adopting the Family-Centered Care Scale on the health institutions’ central value metrics will present an unprecedented point of view on the frequently disregarded but central element in pediatric nursing.

The researchers should have included diversified respondents not only the English speaking non-Hispanic Whites. In addition, the number of children Hospitals should have been increased to provide a wide array of views, samples as well as diversity in dealing with some of the issues (Curley et al, 2013). Nevertheless, the results indicated little variability depending on race and ethnicity. Further, the study could have included observational measures relating to the interactions of the nurses and the parents.

Conclusion

Even though the study provided a preliminary framework through which the parents’ experiences could be gauged in family-centered care, the information provided was based on small sample size that could not offer reliable ascertainment for full adoption of the results. Therefore, there is need for further studies conducted using larger group to ascertain the results. Moreover, the study concentrated on explicit nurse metrics, therefore, does not take into consideration the critical inputs of the total multi-disciplinary panel. In essence, the study was limited in samples used. In addition, the instruments could have captured most important behavioral aspects such as the interactions between the nurses and the parents. In other words, supplementary psychometric testing should be done with increased sample of hospitals, respondents as well as regions. Moreover, further longitudinal studies need to be conducted to appraise the sensitivity of the scale for gauging the transformations corresponding to the nurses’ capabilities as well as to boost the delivery of family-centered care.

References

Curley, M. A., Hansberger, M. & Harris, S. K. (2013). Psychometric evaluation of the family-centered care scale for pediatric acute care nursing. Nursing Research, 62(3), 160-168.

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Psychometric Evaluation of the Family-Centered Care Scale

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