Conclusions: Parenting foster children with complex health care needs is a life changing experience for the foster families as well as foster children. A multifaceted experience, it has implications not only for nursing but multiple disciplines.
Article: http://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursfp/17

Lauver PhD, Lori S.

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Thomas Jefferson UniversityJefferson Digital CommonsSchool of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations Jefferson College of Nursing2011Parenting Foster Children with Chronic Illness andComplex Medical NeedsLori S. Lauver PhDThomas Jefferson University, lori.lauver@jefferson.eduLet us know how access to this document benefits youFollow this and additional works at: http://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursfpPart of the Nursing CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Jefferson Digital Commons. The Jefferson Digital Commons is a service of ThomasJefferson University's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The Commons is a showcase for Jefferson books and journals, peer-reviewed scholarlypublications, unique historical collections from the University archives, and teaching tools. The Jefferson Digital Commons allows researchers andinterested readers anywhere in the world to learn about and keep up to date with Jefferson scholarship. This article has been accepted for inclusion inSchool of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations by an authorized administrator of the Jefferson Digital Commons. For more information, pleasecontact: JeffersonDigitalCommons@jefferson.edu.Recommended CitationLauver PhD, Lori S., "Parenting Foster Children with Chronic Illness and Complex Medical Needs"(2011). School of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations. Paper 43.http://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursfp/43Parenting Foster Children with Chronic Illness and Complex Medical NeedsLori S. Lauver, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of NursingThomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA - Geisinger CampusbackgroundCurrent estimates show there are more than 520,000 children in the U. S. foster care system.  Most children entering foster care have behavior, developmental, medical, or physical problems, many of which are chronic.  In some instances, a lack of resources and support or the child’s unique health problem, such as a genetic defect or chronic medical condition create a situation in which biological parents are unwilling or unable to provide care for these children.  As a consequence, a child who needs specialized care may require foster home placement with parents who have specific training and skills to provide hands-on care.  Many foster parents are similar to biological parents in their reluctance to accept the responsibility associated with parenting medically fragile children, and most do not possess the necessary skills.  The unwillingness and inability of foster parents to provide care to medically complex or fragile children presents an already overburdened foster care system with even more difficult and pressing concerns.  As a result, child welfare agencies advocate enrolling foster parents in training programs to facilitate technical skill development, and the placement of these children into “medical homes”.  However, research fails to capture the knowledge that foster parents need in order to be successful in parenting these children.  Further, nurses’ misconceptions about foster parenting continue to hinder the application of a family-centered care approach to these families.purposeThe aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of parenting chronically ill foster children with complex medical needs.  findingsFive interwoven, interconnected, essential themes emerged from the data.  Each major theme contained one or two theme clusters and several meaning units that compose the broad theme. methodologyPhenomenological inquiry using van Manen’s method, which focuses on description, interpretation, and meaning, was employed.  The guiding theme of phenomenology is to go “back to the things themselves” (Husserl).  It is the study of essences; and, the description of experiential meanings we live as we live them (van Manen).  participants and settingPurposive sampling using criterion and snowball techniques served as the mechanism to obtain participants.  The number of participants in the study was based on repetition of discovered information.  Thirteen foster parents met the essential criterion of parenting foster children with chronic illness and complex medical needs for at least six months and described the day-to-day experience of parenting chronically ill foster children with complex medical needs.  All were married and White, and lived rural areas of one state in the northeastern U. S.  conclusionsParenting foster children with complex health care needs is a life changing experience for the foster families as well as foster children.  A multifaceted experience, it has implications not only for nursing but multiple disciplines.design & analysisData were collected via an unstructured interview strategy that was guided by one broad interview question, probes, and open-ended clarifying questions.  Interviews were audio recorded, then transcribed verbatim.  A seven-phase abstraction process was used to identify significant statements, formulated meanings and key elements as well as meaning units, theme clusters, and essential themes.Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow woodAnd sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowthThen took the other as just as fairAnd having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wearThough as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the sameAnd both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden blackOh, I kept the first for another day!Yet, knowing how way leads onto wayI doubted if I should ever come backI shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages henceTwo roads diverged in a woodAnd I took the one less traveled byAnd that has made all the differenceRobert Frostreferences1. Frost, R. (2003). Robert Frost: Collected early poetry. Ann Arbor, MI: Border Classics.2. van Manen, M. (1998). Researching lived experience. Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. (2nd ed.). London, Ontario: Althouse Press.

Parenting Foster Children with Chronic Illness and Complex Medical Needs

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Parenting Foster Children with Chronic Illness and Complex Medical Needs

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