| Summary: | The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the
degree of congruence between parents' satisfaction with nursing
care and nurses' perceptions of parent satisfaction. The
conceptual framework that guided this research was the enabling
and empowering model of helping relationships by Dunst, Trivette,
Davis, and Cornwell (1988). A convenience sample of twenty
nurse-parent pairs was recruited from a 22-bed unit in a tertiary
care pediatric hospital. Data were collected by means of a 25-
item self-administered satisfaction with nursing care instrument
and socio-demographic tools. Data were analyzed using
descriptive and parametric statistics.
The study results revealed statistically significant
differences between parent and nurse perceptions. As a group,
nurses estimated parents to be less satisfied with nursing care
than parents themselves reported. However, when a pair-by-pair
analysis was conducted, it showed a lack of congruence between
parents' and nurses' perceptions in both directions. The
conclusions support the need for nurses to explicitly ask the
consumers of their services whether or not their expectations of
nursing care are being met. Unless nurses ensure that the care
they provide is consistent with what consumers want, consumers
are unlikely to be satisfied. Recommendations are made for
nursing practice, education, administration, and research. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
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