Care of hospitalized children in Mozambique: nurses’ beliefs and practice regarding family involvement

Abstract

This study aims to describe nurses' beliefs and practice regarding family involvement in the care of hospitalized children in Mozambique. Ethnographic fieldwork was used. The data production consisted of field descriptions from observations and interviews with 36 nurses. Through qualitative content analysis the findings show that nurses' practice of family involvement reflects a society that is poor, hierarchical, family-oriented but at the same time still adaptive. Four themes are identified: family members' presence in order to assist the nurses in care; nurses' support and education of family members to be involved in care; nurses' shielding of family members from family involvement; difficulties and conditional dilemmas in the nurses' involvement of families. It is concluded that emphasizing culturally congruent nursing care is necessary if families' way of life is to be accommodated. However, to empower family involvement in everyday practice, the Mozambican nurses themselves need to be empowered.