• Kim Foster, Connie Van, Andrea McCloughen, Rebecca Mitchell, Alexandra Young, and Kate Curtis.
• Australian Catholic University, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Paramedicine, 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia; Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne Health, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, 3050, Australia; Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Sydney Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Sydney, 88 Mallett Street, Camperdown NSW 2006, Australia.
• Injury. 2020 May 1; 51 (5): 1203-1209.

IntroductionTo provide effective care and promote wellbeing and positive outcomes for parents and families following paediatric critical injury there is a need to understand parent experiences and psychosocial support needs. This study explores parent experiences two years following their child's critical injury.MethodsThis multi-centre study used an interpretive qualitative design. Parent participants were recruited from four paediatric hospitals in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative data were thematically analysed and managed using NVivo 11.ResultsTwenty-two parents participated. Three themes were identified through analysis: Recovering from child injury; Managing the emotional impact of child injury; Being resilient and finding ways to adapt.ConclusionsA long-term dedicated trauma family support role is required to ensure continuity of care, integration of support and early targeted intervention to prevent long-term adverse outcomes for critically injured children and their families. Early and ongoing psychosocial intervention would help strengthen parental adaptation and address families' psychosocial support needs following child injury.Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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