Evaluating the observable effects of foster grandparents on hospitalized children.

Because Foster Grandparent Programs have been widely implemented in acute care settings but not systematically evaluated, a study was done of the effects that the visiting of parent surrogates had on young children in acute care settings. Three groups of children in such settings were compared: those with foster grandparents, those without visitors, and those visited by their parents. Intergroup differences in the children's hospital behavior reached statistical significance in respect to only one of five behavioral domains investigated. The results of the foster grandparent intervention were found to be relatively weak compared with the results reported in earlier studies. However, it was believed that the discrepancy could be accounted for by the presence or absence of the visitor at the time of observation of the child's behavior. Implications drawn from the study were that greater benefits might be derived from the Foster Grandparent Program at little additional cost if the foster grandparent began visiting immediately upon the child's admission to the hospital, if this visiting extended beyond the current standard 2-hour period, and if the visitor was present at all traumatic medical procedures.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes