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- Title
Mapping childcare support for patients at a sample of North American hospitals and cancer centers: an environmental scan.
- Authors
Preston, Katherine; MacDonald, Mackenzie; Giuliani, Meredith; Leung, Bonnie; Simmons, Christine; Melosky, Barbara; Ingledew, Paris-Ann
- Abstract
Purpose: Approximately a quarter of cancer patients are parents to young children. One unique challenge faced by this patient group is the difficulty of accessing childcare support during medical appointments. Hospital-based childcare options could represent a solution to this problem, but to this point, no comprehensive scans have described existing on-site childcare centers. The purpose of this study is to identify and characterize on-site childcare services available to patients at selected North American hospitals. This information could inform the development of similar programs for cancer patients. Methods: Using publicly available information, an environmental scan of the grey literature was conducted to investigate Canadian and American hospitals for the presence of childcare services. A standardized data collection tool was used to extract center characteristics. Results: Twenty-six childcare centers were identified across 161 hospitals in both Canada and the USA, with 8/55 Canadian hospitals and 18/106 American hospitals having patient-accessible on-site services. The majority of the centers were associated with pediatric hospitals (77%). Only a single childcare center was associated with a cancer hospital. All centers accommodated children between the ages of 3 and 8. Most centers were open for over 30 h per week (77%) and were free of charge to users (89%). Other characteristics, including capacity and staffing, varied widely. Conclusions: These results represent an inventory of patient-accessible, on-site childcare services currently available at selected North American hospitals. Cancer patients who are also parents may especially benefit from this kind of support.
- Subjects
CANADA; CANCER hospitals; CHILD care; CHILDREN'S hospitals; PARENTS; GREY literature; NORTH Americans
- Publication
Supportive Care in Cancer, 2022, Vol 30, Issue 1, p593
- ISSN
0941-4355
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00520-021-06460-x