Factors Influencing the Willingness of Hospitalized Children's Parents to Engage in Patient Safety: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Hospitalized children's patient safety incidents can have a significant long-term impact on their physical, psychological, cognitive, and social development. Family-centered care emphasizes engaging parents, and parental involvement is an effective way to ensure child safety. This study aims to identify the factors influencing parents of children with hospitalization experiences in their willingness to engage in patient safety.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 210 parents whose children had been hospitalized within the past one year in South Korea. We used a structured questionnaire including patient safety knowledge, patient safety literacy, children's hospitalization experience, and the willingness to engage in patient safety. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square test, analysis of variance, correlational analysis, and regression analysis.

Results: The willingness to engage in patient safety had significant positive correlations with patient safety knowledge (r=0.36, p<0.001) and patient safety literacy (r=0.24, p<0.001). The variables that had a statistically significant influence on the willingness to engage in patient safety were the birth order of the hospitalized child (β=0.41, p=0.014), patient safety knowledge (β=0.25, p<0.001), communication with the child (β= -0.25, p=0.018), and attention to safety and comfort (β=0.21, p=0.026).

Conclusion: This study found that the birth order of the hospitalized child, patient safety knowledge, and children's hospitalization experience are important factors in parents' willingness to engage in patient safety. The findings indicated the need to develop patient safety education programs for parents, considering the facilitators of and barriers to their willingness to engage in patient safety.