title: Nurses' experiences of what constitutes the encounter with children visiting a sick parent at an adult ICU.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite a cultural change in visitation policies for children (0-17 years) at the intensive care unit (ICU) to a more open approach, children are still restricted from visiting for various reasons. To overcome these obstacles, it is vital to determine what is needed while encountering a child.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate nurses' experiences of what constitutes the encounter with children visiting a sick parent at an adult ICU.
  
  
  METHODS
  An explorative inductive qualitative design was used, entailing focus group interviews with 23 nurses working at a general ICU. The interviews were analysed according to inductive content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings show components that constitute the encounter with children as relatives at the ICU, as experienced by ICU nurses: nurses need to be engaged and motivated; parents need to be motivated; the child needs individual guidance; and a structured follow-up is needed. This reflects a child-focused encounter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses need to adopt a holistic view, learn to see and care for the child individually, and be able to engage parents in supporting their children. To accomplish this the nurses need engagement and motivation, and must have knowledge about what constitutes a caring encounter, in order to achieve a caring child-focused encounter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden; CHILD Research Group, Jönköping University, Sweden. Electronic address: susanne.knutsson@ju.se.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knutsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden; CHILD Research Group, Jönköping University, Sweden. Electronic address: karin.enskar@ju.se.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Enskär
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden; CHILD Research Group, Jönköping University, Sweden; Futurum-Academy for Health and Care Region, Jönköping Region, Sweden. Electronic address: marie.golsater@ju.se.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golsäter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D064648:Critical Care Nursing; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Children; Critically ill; Encounter; Family; Intensive care unit; Qualitative study; Relatives