Peer Support Experienced by Mothers of Children With Congenital Heart Defects in Sweden

The aim of this study was to describe experiences of peer support among mothers of children with congenital heart defects. Ten mothers were interviewed through a semi-structured approach and interviews were analyzed with systematic text condensation. The respondents established various channels used for peer support and navigated between the channels depending on what type of information or support they needed. Through the channels, they found peers they developed strong friendships with and who they relied on for emotional support. Communicating with peers involved the reciprocal exchange of unique emotional support between peers who understand each other as well as the exchange of information derived from their collective knowledge, and thus, difficult to find without the help of peers. The findings illustrate the potential strengths of establishing reliable collaboration and liaisons between clinical units and peer support networks.

The Development of an Early Intervention for Supporting Families of Persons With Acquired Brain Injuries: The SAFIR© Intervention

Families of persons with acquired brain injuries need to be supported from the early phase of hospitalization. To date, no known early family intervention is available for this population. Using the Medical Research Council Framework, we developed a new intervention based on the Calgary Assessment and Intervention Models that includes the family preferences, clinician’s expertise, and the contextual resources. This paper aims to describe the complete development process including a scoping review, an assessment of families and clinicians’ needs, an evaluation of the contextual resources, and an adaptation of the theoretical framework. Using a systemic perspective, we tailored the new intervention to involve the stakeholder’s preferences. The result is an early family intervention named SAFIR©, led by a clinical nurse specialist, including five core components and structured around three phases and a follow-up. The next steps will be focused on assessment of the clinical feasibility of this new intervention.

Engagement of Families in the Care of Hospitalized Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review

This scoping review was conducted to examine the range, nature, and extent of the published family engagement literature specific to the pediatric acute care setting to highlight future research and practice development opportunities. Included studies ( N = 247) revealed global relevance. Engagement strategies ranged from more passive such as allowing/encouraging families to be present at the bedside to more active strategies aimed at promoting mutual and reciprocal nurse–patient interactions. Family engagement is distinguished by a mutually beneficial partnership of families with health care team members and care organizations. Future research in the area of family engagement in pediatric nursing should focus on determining the core engaging health professional behaviors and engaged parent outcomes; extending the knowledge base related to mutually beneficial partnerships between families and health care teams; developing effectiveness studies to determine the optimal engaging actions by teams to achieve parent engagement; and measuring the influence of engagement on parent and infant/child outcomes.

Patient, Family Caregiver, and Nurse Involvement in End-of-Life Discussions During Palliative Chemotherapy: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Study

The aim of this study was to investigate current nursing practice related to end-of-life discussions with incurable lung cancer patients and their family caregivers from the perspectives of patients, family caregivers, and nurses in an oncology outpatient clinic. This phenomenological hermeneutic study included nine patients, eight family caregivers, and 11 nurses. Data were collected using participant observation, informal and semi-structured individual or joint interviews with patients and family caregivers, and focus group interviews with nurses. A Ricoeur-inspired approach was used to analyze the data. Three themes were identified: (a) content of end-of-life discussions, (b) timing of end-of-life discussions, and (c) challenges in end-of-life discussions. End-of-life discussions were seldom initiated; when they were, it was often too late. Discussions addressed treatment, place of care, practical/economic concerns, and existential matters. The physical environment at the outpatient clinic, lack of continuity, and nurses’ instrumental task workloads and time pressure posed challenges to initiating end-of-life discussions.

Nurses’ Attitudes Toward the Importance of Families in Nursing Care: A Multinational Comparative Study

The aim of this study was to examine nurses’ attitudes about the importance of family in nursing care from an international perspective. We used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected online using the Families’ Importance in Nursing Care—Nurses’ Attitudes (FINC-NA) questionnaire from a convenience sample of 740 registered nurses across health care sectors from Sweden, Ontario, Canada, and Hong Kong, China. Mean levels of attitudes were compared across countries using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Multiple regression was used to identify factors associated with nurses’ attitudes and to test for interactions by country. Factors associated with nurse attitudes included country, age, gender, and several practice areas. On average, nurses working in Hong Kong had less positive attitudes compared with Canada and Sweden. The effects of predictors on nurses’ attitudes did not vary by country. Knowledge of nurses’ attitudes could lead to the development of tailored interventions that facilitate nurse-family partnerships in care.