Meta-analytic structural equation modeling of the influences of family-centered care on parent and child psychological health

Abstract

Background. Family-centered care is now practiced throughout the world by physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals. The call for adoption of family-centered care is based on the contention that the physical and psychological health of a child is influenced by parents' psychological health where family-centered care enhances parent well-being which in turn influences child well-being. We empirically assessed whether these relationships are supported by available evidence. Method. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect influences of family-centered care and self-efficacy beliefs on parent and child psychological health. Data from more than 2900 parents and other caregivers in 15 studies were used for the analyses. Results. Family-centered care had indirect effects on parent and child psychological health mediated by self-efficacy beliefs. Conclusion. The relationships posited in the literature about family-centered care were supported by the study results.

Figure 1

Structural equation model for depicting the effects of family-centered care, self-efficacy beliefs, and child special health care needs on parent and child psychological health.

Figure 2

Structural equation model results for the effects of family-centered care, self-efficacy beliefs, and child special health care needs on parent and child psychological health (MODEL I). (Note: the significance levels of the path coefficients are influenced by the standard errors for those metrics and are the reason why larger coefficients sometimes have smaller P-values.) *P < .01, **P < .001, ***P < .0001.

Figure 3

Structural equation modeling results for the respecified model (MODEL II). *P < .01, **P < .001, ***P < .0001.