Nursing team’s conceptions about the families of hospitalized children

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: to describe nursing team care and discuss the nursing team’s conception of companion families of hospitalized children. The study was based on the theoretical framework of Collière’s theory of nursing care identity. Method: this was a qualitative study with 14 members of a nursing team, conducted through an unstructured group interview. Thematic data analysis was employed. Results: habitual and repair care was delegated to families, regardless of the child’s clinical condition. Final considerations: the team’s official discourse about the families of hospitalized children, as recommended by the literature, refers to the family’s alterity and participation in care provision, with sights on discharge and defending family participation as beneficial to children. In practice, however, the nursing staff makes concessions about the presence of chaperoning families and delegates care.