The importance of family support in pediatrics and its impact on healthcare satisfaction.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate predictors of healthcare satisfaction for parents whose children received hospital-based healthcare services at the Children's hospital at Landspitali University Hospital.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, data on perceived family support, family quality of life, expressive family functioning, coping strategies and healthcare satisfaction were collected from 159 mothers and 60 fathers (N = 177 families) of children and adolescents from 2011 to 2012.


RESULTS
Logistic regression analysis revealed that, for mothers, 38.8% of the variance in satisfaction with healthcare services was predicted by perceived family support and their coping strategies, while for fathers, 59.9% of the variance of their satisfaction with healthcare service was predicted by perceived family support, family quality of life and whether the child had been hospitalised before.


CONCLUSIONS
Perceived family support was the one factor that was found to predict both the mothers' and the fathers' satisfaction with healthcare services. Knowing which factors predict satisfaction with health care among parents of hospitalised children with different chronic illnesses and health issues can inform the delivery of effective family-focused interventions and evidence-based practice to families.
Landspitali - The National University Hospital in Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Anna Olafia
AO
Sigurdardottir
School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Ann W
AW
Garwick
Landspitali - The National University Hospital in Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Erla Kolbrun
EK
Svavarsdottir
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000416:Alberta; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010372:Pediatrics; D011788:Quality of Life
coping strategies; expressive family functioning; family quality of life; family systems nursing; healthcare satisfaction; hospitalised children and adolescents; parents; perceived family support