Parental engagement practices with young children during hospitalization: a cross-sectional survey from Pakistan

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the association between parental play and stimulation practices during hospitalization with child and family factors. Methods A cross sectional survey was conducted in Pakistan, with 458 parents of hospitalized children, to gauge parental education and knowledge about developmental milestones, and the stimulation activities they had recently engaged in with their child. Results Overall, about a third of the parents had not with their children in the past 3 days. Higher maternal education level was associated with a higher number of maternal stimulation practices (X 2 (1, N=449) =6.7, p=0.009). Child gender did not have a significant association with maternal or paternal engagement practices. Conclusions There is a need to introduce interventions to increase parental engagement during hospitalization, especially for the younger children with poor health status.