466 Fathers Matter Too: Involving Both Fathers and Mothers in Child Health Research

Abstract

Background: Current research within the field of children's palliative care primarily focuses on the perspectives of mothers, to the relative detriment of fathers. The reason for the absence of the male perspective has often been attributed to the difficulty of recruiting fathers and their unwillingness to talk, particularly about sensitive subjects. Given the expansion of children's palliative care over recent years, the needs to understand how fathers experience caring for their dying child and their perspective on how this care can be facilitated professionally is ever more acute. Such understanding will support health and social care professionals to ensure that the care they provide for children is family centred and addresses the needs of both parents. Conclusions: This poster examines the pertinent issue of involving bereaved fathers in qualitative research interviews and considers the practical issues of such involvement. Little guidance exists regarding whether it is best to interview parents together or separately. The PATCH study used semistructured interviews to examine bereaved parents' experiences of caring for their child at the end-oflife. Some parent couples were interviewed jointly, others separately. Advantages and disadvantages of both approaches will be outlined and excerpts from parent interviews will be used to substantiate points made.