Comparison of the awareness of children's rights in parents of hospitalised children and nurses

Abstract

Introduction: The rights of sick children have the status of independent rights in modern societies and must be considered and protected accordingly. Those rights depend on the level of development of a society and its healthcare system. The rights of sick children should be familiar especially to healthcare providers, parents or legal guardians and also to children. The paper aims to present a comparative review of the knowledge of the children's rights in hospital in two research groups, the parents and nurses. Methods: For the study, the non-experimental research method was applied. The data were collected though a structured questionnaire on a sample of parents of hospitalised children (n = 49) and nurses (n = 60). Prior to the survey the questionnaire was tested on a smaller sample. The data derived from the survey were processed and analysed statistically, using the basic descriptive statistics and a bivariate analysis (chi-squared test, t - test). Results: A statistically significant difference was established between the parents and the nursing staff in the level of acquaintance with the rights of sick children, based on Magna Charta (t = 5.828, p < 0.001). Discussion and conclusion: According to the research findings, the knowledge of the sick children’s rights in hospital is better in nursing professionals than in parents of hospitalized children. The greatest difference between the two groups was observed with regard to knowing the way of communication of nurses with parents, the assignment of children to departments, the conditions for play and education during the child’s stay in hospital, and the conditions for admittance to hospital. No significant difference was found between the two groups in their estimation of the extent to which the rights of children are respected and the relatively high level of respect of these rights.