Pediatric Nursing Research: Creating Partnerships With Parents to Improve the Health of Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Partnerships with parents are essential for pediatric nursing practice and research. Pediatric nurse researchers need to understand the critical influence that parents have on the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents. CREATING PARTNERSHIPS WITH parents is essential to pediatric nursing practice and research. Indeed, parents and families provide the context for the growth and development of children (Friedman, Bowden, & Jones, 2003). Children are dependent on their parents to create a supportive environment in which they provide care and nurturance to promote their child's growth and development. Pediatric nursing practice involves providing direct care to children and adolescents and creating partnerships with parents to teach them how to promote their children's health and manage illness (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2009), as well as provide anticipatory guidance to parents about their children's developmental needs (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2007). This partnership with parents and families is reflected in the recommendation from the scope and standards of pediatric nursing practice that children's health care should be family centered for optimal health and well-being (American Nurses Association and Society of Pediatric Nursing, 2003; American Nurses Association, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, & Society of Pediatric Nurses, 2008; National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, 2009). Moreover, a key area for nursing research with children and their families includes a focus on the role of parents and their relationship to children's health and development (Miles & Holditch-Davis, 2003). The integral role of parents in relation to the health of their children is highlighted in the research articles reported in this issue of the Journal of Pediatric Nursing. The focus of one study was perceived communication facilitators and barriers among parents, pediatric nurses, and physicians