Relationships with the medical staff and aspects of satisfaction with care expressed by parents of children with cancer

Abstract

Seventy-four parents of children with cancer were asked to characterize the behavior of medical staff members with whom they interacted. Seven empirically distinct dimensions of staff behavior relevant to their relationships with parents were identified, including information transmission, clarity and honesty of communication, acceptance of parental efficacy, resolution of conflicts, personal contact with parents, empathy with the child, and staff competence. With respect to their experiences with the treatment of their child, parents also were asked to indicate their satisfaction with the medical staff in terms of changes in their respect and/or anger for the medical staff, changes in feelings about doctors, support received from doctors and nurses, and stress resulting from tense relations with the staff. The seven dimensions of parent-staff relationships were used as predictors in a series of multiple regressions employing these satisfaction measures as criteria. The overall quality of the parent-staff relationship was best predicted by positive personal contact. The strongest predictor of whether or not parents felt increased anger was staff empathy with child. Increased respect for the medical staff was predicted by a combination of information transmission and perception of staff competence. Experience of support by parents was best predicted by information transmission and staff acceptance of parental efficacy in treatment and decision making. This complex pattern supports the usefulness of disaggregating measures of staff behavior and parent satisfaction when examining the relations between medical consumers and service providers.