The Effectiveness of Family-Centered Care Interventions on Psychological Outcomes of Parents of Hospitalized Children: A Systematic Review

Background and Aim: Hospitalization of a child is a stressful experience for parents, which can lead to anxiety, depression, caregiving burden, and impaired psychological functioning, resulting in inadequate care and negative outcomes for the children. Family-centered care, as a key approach in pediatric nursing involving active parental participation in the care process, can play an effective role in reducing these consequences. This study aimed to systematically review the evidence on the effectiveness of family-centered care interventions on the psychological outcomes of parents of hospitalized children. Methods: This study was conducted according to the PRISMA protocol. A systematic search was performed in the following databases: SID, Magiran, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The search used MeSH keywords including "Family-Centered Care", "Parental Participation", "Hospitalized Child", "Anxiety", "Stress", "Psychological Consequences" and their Persian equivalents, for articles published between ۲۰۱۵ and ۲۰۲۵ with no language restrictions. The inclusion criteria were clinical trials and quasi-experimental studies that investigated the effect of family-centered care interventions on at least one psychological outcome in parents of hospitalized children. The process of screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, as well as data extraction, was then carried out. Results: Out of ۲۴۶ retrieved studies, ۱۲ studies that met the inclusion criteria were included. Family-centered interventions were implemented in the form of empowerment programs, virtual communication (social networks, video contact), and active parental participation. The psychological outcomes investigated included anxiety, stress, resilience, self-efficacy, and caregiving burden. The results of the qualitative synthesis showed that family-centered care interventions significantly reduced anxiety (n=۶ studies), stress (n=۴), and caregiving burden (n=۲), and also increased resilience (n=۳) and self-efficacy (n=۳) in parents of hospitalized children. Conclusion: Family-centered care interventions appear to be an effective strategy for improving the psychological outcomes of parents of hospitalized children. Integrating these interventions into nursing care protocols can help promote the health of both parents and children. Conducting studies with larger sample sizes and stronger methodologies is recommended to strengthen the evidence.

کلیدواژه ها:

Family-Centered Care ، Parents ، Hospitalized Child ، Psychological Outcomes ، Systematic Review