Impact of a nurse-led family support intervention on family members' satisfaction with intensive care and psychological wellbeing: A mixed-methods evaluation

Abstract Background Families of critically ill persons face uncertainty and experience distress during and after their close other's stay in an intensive care unit (ICU). Proactive nurse engagement and support is recommended to meet families' needs in the ICU, but little is known about its impact on quality of family care. We introduced a family support intervention that consisted of an interprofessional family support pathway and a new role of an advanced practice family nurse. Objectives The aim of the study was to examine the effect of an advanced practice nurse–led family support intervention on family members' satisfaction, wellbeing, and psychological distress. Methods We conducted a quasi-experimental before-and-after study with embedded qualitative interviews in a Swiss University Hospital from March 2018 to July 2019 using a questionnaire (Family Satisfaction in the ICU-24 Survey, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised-6) and qualitative interviews (n = 19) after patient discharge. Results Families in the intervention group (n = 75) showed a trend for increased overall satisfaction (difference of 5.544, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.11 to 11.20), a statistically significant increase in satisfaction with decision-making (7.258, 95% CI: 0.89 to 13.63), and a nonsignificant increase in satisfaction with care (4.178, 95% CI: −1.53 to 9.89). Psychological distress was higher in the intervention group, with depression reaching statistical significance (difference of 1.706, 95% CI: 0.16 to 3.25), which may be explained by longer ICU stays and higher proportion of deaths in the intervention group. Families receiving the intervention reported to be feeling cared for, well informed, and better able to cope. Data integration suggests that early onset, fit to need, and quality of intervention were the most important intervention characteristics impacting family wellbeing. Conclusions Our study found that family members experience a nurse-led support intervention as beneficial for their wellbeing. It increased their satisfaction, but was unable to demonstrate a favourable impact on psychological distress.