Ronald McDonald House®, in partnership with the UCSF Patient and Family-Centered Care Research Center (PFCC-RC) and the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC), conducted a global descriptive study to examine hospital leaders’ perceptions of family-centered care (FCC) in pediatric settings. This international research identified strengths and opportunities for improvement in FCC practices, supporting hospitals worldwide in advancing family-centered approaches to care.
The resulting Family-Centered Care Hospital Policies and Practices Scale (FCC-HPPS) is a comprehensive survey designed to assess the perspectives of hospital leaders and direct care healthcare professionals on their hospital’s FCC culture, practices, and policies. Developed and evaluated through international research led by the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with IPFCC and funded by Ronald McDonald House, the FCC-HPPS captures key dimensions of family-centered care across diverse healthcare systems.
The FCC-HPPS includes 44 core items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) assessing eight dimensions of family-centered care, with total scores ranging from 44 to 220, where higher scores indicate stronger hospital-wide FCC culture, practice, and policy. The survey also includes 13 optional items related to partnerships with community organizations that support FCC, seven demographic questions, and one open-ended comment question. FCC-HPPS total and subscale scores can be used to identify priority areas for FCC awareness, education, and quality improvement, as well as to track progress over time.
The global survey has been implemented in hospitals across 50 countries with Ronald McDonald House-affiliated programs and is available in multiple languages. The FCC-HPPS is currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, supporting broad international use and inclusive participation.
To support implementation and improvement efforts, IPFCC offers complementary resources and tools for advancing patient- and family-centered care and for establishing or strengthening patient and family advisory councils. These resources are available through the IPFCC Resource Center and the PFCC Best Practices section of the IPFCC website.
Permission to Use
The Family-Centered Care Hospital Policies and Practices Scale – Hospitals Caring for Pediatric Patients (FCC-HPPS) may be reproduced and used for non-commercial research and healthcare quality improvement purposes. All use of the scale must include the following citation:
Requests for Changes or Translation
Requests to modify the instrument or translate it into additional languages must be submitted in writing to Dr. Linda Franck ([email protected]). Approved translations must follow accepted medical translation standards, including back-translation and verification of accuracy. Professional translation services are strongly recommended. The original layout and formatting must be retained, and both the translated and English back-translated versions must be submitted to Dr. Franck for final approval prior to use.
Authors of approved translations must agree to allow UCSF and IPFCC to make the translated version freely available on their websites. The following credit line may be included as a footnote:
Translation (language) provided by: (name or organization, date).