Year
2002
Degree Name
Master of Nursing (Hons.)
Department
Department of Nursing
Recommended Citation
Tachibana, Fumiko, Informing parents of their child's disability: a survey of health care professionals' preparedness for informing practice, Master of Nursing (Hons.) thesis, Department of Nursing, University of Wollongong, 2002. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/2601
Abstract
Informing parents of their child's disability is an important task of health care professionals because it can affect the future parent-professional relationship and parents' adaptation to their child's disability. The current study investigated health care professionals' preparedness for informing practice among different professional groups through a questionnaire survey. The literature suggested factors that possibly affect professionals' practice. These were professionals' attitudes toward having a child with a disability, knowledge to give sufficient information to parents, and skills necessary in informing parents of their child's disability. There were no research instruments available to investigate professionals' preparedness for informing practice in these areas, except for an attitude questionnaire. A questiormaire was consequently developed with knowledge fi-om the literature. Based on the subjects' responses to the questiormaire, comparisons were made to determine whether differences in preparedness for informing practice in these areas exists among different professional groups, including doctors, nurses, and social workers.
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.