A Qualitative Study of Pediatric Nurses' Perception of Factors Affecting Negotiation of Care in a Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Unit Running head: Negotiation in A Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant

BackgroundThe adoption of a 'family-centered-care' philosophy is essential for the care process and its negotiation. A better understanding of nurses' perception of factors that affect the process of negotiation could allow us to better address future interventions and to improve FCC. The purpose of our study was to investigate pediatric nurses' perception of factors that affect the process of negotiation of care with Stem Cell Transplantation pediatric patients and their parents.MethodsA qualitative research design with in-depth interviews was chosen. Sixteen interviews (16 nurses) were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Two researchers conducted independently a thematic analysis of the verbatim transcripts of the interviews.ResultsFour themes emerged from the data as factors that affect the process of negotiation: (a) communication, (b) personal factors (c) specificity, and (d) organization.ConclusionsThese themes represent interesting points for future improvement interventions. Negotiation in the Stem Cell Transplant setting would deserve further research, with special focus on children' and parents' perception of factors affecting this important aspect. Furthermore, in the future, negotiation guidelines could be validated and implemented effectively and an already validated tool could be used to document the negotiation process in the Stem Cell Transplant setting.