Influence of Pediatric Patients’ Developmental or Chronic Health Condition Status as a Predictor of Parents’ Perceptions of Patient- and Family-Centered Care

ABSTRACT

Our study aimed to estimate how a pediatric patient’s health condition status influences parents’ perceptions of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC). We analyzed five years (2013–2017) of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data in efforts to expand understanding of the family influence in pediatric health encounters, using family systems theory as our theoretical lens. The sample included 36,675 parents of children with developmental or chronic health conditions who reported visiting a health-care provider within the past 12 months. The independent variable was a combined measure of any developmental or chronic health conditions previously diagnosed in the child being assessed. Dependent variables included parent reports of communication variables related to how often providers: listened; showed respect; spent enough time; and explained things well. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the odds of receiving PFCC using a dichotomous measure of PFCC quality and separate domains. Results found that 1) the dichotomous variable of PFCC showed that parents of children with health conditions were less likely to report their provider always performed all elements of PFCC compared to parents whose children did not have any health conditions; 2) parents of children with developmental or chronic health conditions were less likely to report their provider always explained things well compared to parents whose children did not have any health conditions. Efforts to improve PFCC should focus on training providers to demonstrate high-quality practices to improve health outcomes for pediatric patients with developmental or chronic conditions.

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest

No potential competing interests were reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey at https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain:

Household Component: https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/household.jsp

Medical Provider Component: https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/mpc.jsp

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Enhancement Program sponsored by The Office of the Vice President for Research at The University of Texas at Arlington under Grant 270076.