Gender imbalance in pediatric palliative care research samples

Title

Gender imbalance in pediatric palliative care research samples

Creator

Macdonald ME; Chilibeck G; Affleck W; Cadell S

Publisher

Palliative Medicine

Date

2010

Subject

NET CV

Description

We assessed the sampling performance of research on parental perspectives in pediatric palliative care and examined if and how gender imbalance was treated. We undertook a systematic review of parental perspectives research in pediatric palliative care using MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Study selection inclusion criteria were: (1) published between 1988 and 2008; (2) in English; (3) conducted in North America; (4) focused on parents of children aged 0-18 years who were expected to die or had died; (5) had 'parent' in the title; and (6) focused on parents' experiences or on parents' perspectives regarding the child's illness/death. Keyword searches produced a list of 2103 studies, of which 45 met the criteria for inclusion. The ratio of mothers to fathers participating in the studies was examined. We found that there has been an increase in research on parental perspectives in pediatric palliative care over the last 5 years, but what constitutes 'parental' in this literature continues to be primarily 'maternal'. Mothers constituted 75% of the overall sample of parents. In only four studies was the gender imbalance addressed as one of the limitations of the study. There is a growing interest in parental perspectives in pediatric palliative care, but the research does not equally reflect the experiences and needs of mothers and fathers. Gender can shape experiences of both parenthood and grief; balanced gender sampling and accurate analysis is essential for research on 'parental perspectives'. Gender imbalance in research samples, designs, recruitment strategies, and data gathering methods must be addressed.
2010

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Macdonald ME; Chilibeck G; Affleck W; Cadell S, “Gender imbalance in pediatric palliative care research samples,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 29, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/14104.