Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Primary Major
Nursing
Thesis Advisor
Deborah Meshel, BSN, MSN
Abstract
Parental advocacy is essential for high-quality, patient-centered care, particularly in pediatric oncology settings. However, when parents are infrequently present due to responsibilities such as work or caring for other children, pediatric patients may experience advocacy gaps, leading to delays in treatment, miscommunication, and unmet needs. Nurses are uniquely positioned to help address this need, but limited research exists on how nursing policies and educational interventions can enhance nurse-led advocacy in such situations. This research proposal assesses the effectiveness of structured nursing policies and educational programs designed to support nurse-led advocacy for pediatric oncology patients with infrequently present or absent parents. Using a quantitative experimental design, this research will measure the impact of these interventions on nurse check-in frequency and documented advocacy actions over a 1-year period. The intervention group will receive targeted nursing policy support to facilitate proactive nurse check-ins and patient-centered advocacy actions, while the control group will receive standard of care. Data collection will include a Time and Motion Study and a Behavioral Observation Checklist, with results analyzed using inferential statistics. It is anticipated that advocacy-focused nursing policies will increase nurse-patient interactions, improve care consistency, and better meet the needs of pediatric oncology patients with limited parental involvement, demonstrating that structured nurse-led advocacy can bridge the gap left by parental absence to ensure consistent, compassionate care.