title: Parental views on participation in their child's pain relief measures and recommendations to health care providers.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe parental views on the factors influencing participation in their 8- to 12-year-old hospitalized child's surgical pain relief measures, and the recommendations to health care providers concerning alleviation of their child's pain. The data were collected by a questionnaire completed by parents (N = 192) whose child was hospitalized in one of the pediatric surgical wards in the five university hospitals of Finland. Results revealed that most of the parents (98%) agreed to having adequate opportunities to participate in their child's care according to their personal preferences; however, only 23% of the parents totally agreed that they had a clearly defined role in their child's pain relief measures. Feelings such as concern, fear, helplessness, anxiety, and depression were commonly experienced by the parents during their child's hospitalization. Most of the parents' recommendations concerned the topic of providing information. The findings of this study have implications for nursing practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University of Kuopio, Finland. tarja.polkki@nic.fi
authors.forename: Tarja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pölkki
authors.forename: Anna-Maija
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pietilä
authors.forename: Katri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vehviläinen-Julkunen
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laukkala
authors.forename: Pauli
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ryhänen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000451:nursing*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011368:Professional-Family Relations