Hindrances to the implementation of family-centered care approach: a grounded theory study

Resumen

Introduction: Family centered care is one of the caring approaches which support patient and family members and reduce their stress level caused by illness. This study aims to explain the challenges of family centered care approach implementations in Iranian health care settings.

Methods: This article is a part of grounded theory study. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling method; the data was collected conducting an in-depth semi-structured interview with each participant. Participants were family members, nurses, clinical supervisors and physicians of educational hospitals affiliated to Khuzestan University of Medical Sciences. Data analysis was conducted using constant comparative analysis method.

Results: Five challenges to implementation of family centered care were extracted in the process of data analysis including: healthcare resources limitations, health professional patient dependency, time constraints for providing care, nature of chronic diseases and medical paternalism.

Conclusions: Implementing this approach is facing with some issues. It needs to develop a partnership between patients’ family members and healthcare providers. Health care system can achieve a range of potential benefits with the implementation of family centered care.