Parent’s experiences of their child’s withdrawal syndrome: a driver for
reciprocal nurse-parent partnership in withdrawal assessment

craske, j; Carter, B; Jarman, I; Tume, LN

Abstract

Withdrawal assessment in critically ill children is complicated by the reliance on non-specific behaviours
and compounded when the child’s typical behaviours are unknown. The existing approach to withdrawal
assessment assumes that nurses elicit the parents’ view of the child’s behaviours.
Objective and research methodology: This qualitative study explored parents’ perspectives of their child’s
withdrawal and preferences for involvement and participation in withdrawal assessment. Parents of eleven
children were interviewed after their child had completed sedation weaning during recovery from
critical illness. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Setting: A large children’s hospital in the Northwest of England.
Findings: Parents experienced varying degrees of partnership in the context of withdrawal assessment
and identified information deficits which contributed to their distress of parenting a child with withdrawal
syndrome. Most parents were eager to participate in withdrawal assessment and reported
instances where their knowledge enabled a personalised interpretation of their child’s behaviours.
Reflecting on the reciprocal nature of the information deficits resulted in the development of a model
for nurse-parent collaboration in withdrawal assessment.
Conclusion: Facilitating nurse-parent collaboration in withdrawal assessment may have reciprocal benefits
by moderating parental stress and aiding the assessment and management of withdrawal syndrome.

Citation

reciprocal nurse-parent partnership in withdrawal assessment. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 50, 71-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2018.09.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 4, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 6, 2019
• Journal: Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
• Print ISSN: 0964-3397
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-4036
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 50
• Pages: 71-78
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2018.09.001
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2018.09.001
• Related Public URLs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/intensive-and-critical-care-nursing