Trends in Research on Caregivers Hospitalized Children in Korea-Focus on Knowledge Type

Purpose: This study was designed to analyze recent trends in research about caregivers of hospitalized children in Korea and to suggest future research directions in this area. Methods: Eighty one studies selected from http://www.kan.or.kr, www.childnursing.or.kr, www.riss4u.net, and www.ndsl.kr published from 1995 to 2011 were used. The analysis framework of concepts was derived from client domain (Kim, 2000) and knowledge type (Kim et al., 2004). Results: In terms of research design, nonexperimental studies (82.7%) were the most frequent, followed by experimental studies (14.8%) and qualitative studies (2.5%). Mothers were the most frequent caregivers, and hospitalization was the most frequent health problem of the children. In terms of categories of the concepts, 35 (39.3%) studies included essentialistic concepts like coping and adaptation, 15 (16.9%) studies included problematic concepts like anxiety and uncertainty, and 39 (43.8%) studies included health-care experiential concepts like educational needs and nursing needs. In term of knowledge types, there were 35 (39.3%) studies of the explanatory knowledge type, 44 (49.5%) descriptive ones, and 10 (11.2%) prescriptive ones. Conclusion: The results indicate that further research is necessary on problematic concepts and prescriptive knowledge types for child health nursing practice which will lead to expanding nursing knowledge.