Effects of a Family Integrated Care Program on Participation in Care and Stress of Neurocritical Patients’ Families
Keywords:
Family integrated care, Family participation, Family stress, Neurocritical patients’ families, Neurocritical patientsAbstract
A neurological critical condition is an acute and severe critical situation that affects a patient’s consciousness, mobility, and communication. Because of the severity of the illness, these patients require intensive treatment and nursing care in a critical care unit. Additionally, patients’ families cannot take on the caregiver role and experience stress. This quasi-experimental design aimed to examine the effects of a family-integrated care (FICare) program on caregiving involvement, and family stress. Participants were selected through purposive sampling based on inclusion criteria and included 50 family members of neurocritical patients admitted to intensive care units in Lamphun Hospital. Participants were matched into pairs and equally assigned to either the control group or the experimental group, with 25 participants in each. The control group received routine nursing care, while the experimental group received care according to the FICare program. The research instrument consisted of two parts: 1) intervention tools, including the FICare program and a caregiver manual, and 2) data collection tools, including general information forms for patients and families, a family participation in care assessment, and a family stress assessment. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and paired t-test.
The study found that families of neurocritical patients in the experimental group had significantly higher family participation in care mean scores (M = 63.24, SD = 0.43) than those of the control group (M = 29.40, SD = 4.56), t(48) = 62.73, p < .001. The families of neurocritical patients in the experimental group had significantly lower stress mean scores (M = 41.60, SD = 5.91) than those of the control group (M = 75.16, SD = 7.38), t (48) = 5.91, p < .001. Furthermore, family stress reduction was significantly greater in the experimental group (M = 43.08, SD = 4.41) than in the control group (M = 10.40, SD = 7.87), t(48) = 18.09, p < .001.
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the family integrated care program in enhancing family participation in the care of neurocritical patients and in decreasing family stress.
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