Interactions that hurt or heal: Patient and parent perceptions of healthcare conflict, mental health impacts and preferences for intervention
Why do we need this project?
Complex childhood illness and long hospitalisations presents difficult challenges for patients and families and is often associated with significant mental health implications. There is a small body of research that suggests that some of the distress experienced by families can arise from conflict with healthcare staff about what is best for a child or young person, and misunderstandings or a mismatch in expectations between clinicians, and young people and their parents.
The experience of the research team is that impact of such interpersonal conflict in paediatric care is pervasive, but it is very under-researched. Programs and supports for families in dealing with healthcare conflict and its mental health effects are almost entirely lacking. This is a major gap, one which cannot be filled simply by training staff in conflict resolution. Something specifically for families is needed.
What does this project aim to do?
The overall aim of the project is to design an intervention to empower families to manage these conflicts and seek appropriate help in a timely fashion. This intervention will be co-designed with patients and parents and will be designed to complement staff training programs in conflict management and resolution.
This project will explore patient and parent experiences of conflict with staff associated with their treatment and hospital stays, and the impacts of the conflict on them. It will also gather data on how clinical staff interpret what is going on when interactions with families are difficult or conflictual. The understandings gained from this will be used to design a user-friendly, accessible, and meaningful program or intervention to help families to navigate conflict and reduce distress. This project puts the lived experience of patients and families front and centre, as both the guiding philosophy and the focus of data collection. It will use co-design principles and methods to design both the data collection phase and in the intervention design phase.
Research Team
- Associate Professor Maria McCarthy
- Professor Lynn Gillam
- Dr Prakash Chidambaram
- Professor Clare Delany
- Associate Professor Jenny Hynson
- Dr Katie Moore
- Professor Fiona Newall
- Dr Molly Williams
Acknowledgement of Country
At Mental Health Central we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we live, gather and work. We recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.