Perceptions about family-centred care among adult patients with chronic diseases at a general outpatient clinic in Nigeria

Family caregivers' experience of caring for patients undergoing hemodialysis: A qualitative study at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

BACKGROUND

The number of patients with chronic kidney disease requiring hemodialysis services is growing in Tanzania. Considering patients undergoing hemodialysis are outpatients, family caregivers fill the gap of caring and support during the lifelong treatment process. Limited information exists especially in the context of Tanzania regarding the challenges the family caregivers encounter during their involvement in the caring process. This study aimed to explore family caregivers' experience of caring for patients undergoing hemodialysis at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

METHODS

A qualitative study employing phenomenological design was conducted. Fourteen family caregivers of patients receiving hemodialysis services at Muhimbili National Hospital were purposively selected. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used for data collection. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed following Braun and Clarke's six phases of thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The study uncovered four key themes from fourteen interviews. The themes were: 1) Family caregivers and providers' interaction, focusing on interpersonal and professional relationships 2) The status of dialysis treatment, describing access and availability of resources for the provision of hemodialysis services 3) Impact of long-term care, touching issues of emotional, physical and social-economic impact to family members and 4) Coping with caring, describing internal and external mechanisms family members use to adjust to demanding situation of caring their loved ones.

CONCLUSION

Caring for patients receiving hemodialysis treatment burdens family caregivers, impacting their livelihood and resources. Healthcare providers need to build a close working relationship with family caregivers to understand their challenges and needs and help build their coping capacities. Additionally, dialysis service coverage issues such as affordability, accessibility, and availability need to be addressed to reduce the caring burden on family caregivers.

Opinions of Patients, Families and Healthcare Professionals on Family Involvement in the Care of Patients Hospitalized in a Moroccan University Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Observational Survey

Opinion surveys on family participation in care in non-Western countries are rare. This study aims to assess the opinions of patients, families, and healthcare professionals regarding family involvement in care to identify their preferences and the associated factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted over eight months involving 717 participants, using structured questionnaires at the Acute Assessment Unit of a university hospital in Morocco. Comparative analyses examined the association between participant characteristics and the preferences of care categories. Poisson regression was applied to determine factors associated with participant preferences. Attitudes toward family participation in care were positive, with an average score of 3.62 ± 0.43 on a 4-point Likert scale. Healthcare professionals were more favorable towards family participation, with an average of 10.6 ± 2.44 types of care, compared to 7.17 ± 1.96 for families and 5.71 ± 2.16 for patients. Participants' opinions converged on a set of simple and less technical care tasks. Factors significantly associated with patient preferences in the final adjustment model (p < 0.05) included frailty, loss of autonomy, length of stay, and regular and continuous (day and night) family presence. This study highlights the strong support of health professionals, patients, and families for family participation in care. Understanding these preferences and related factors is essential to maximize family participation and develop a model of Patient And Family Centered Care adapted to the Moroccan context.

Family-Centered Care Experiences in Elderly with Chronic Diseases in Communities: Qualitative Study of Patients, Families, Nurses, and Volunteers

Introduction

The family, at community, must be an important part of elderly care. However, most of the elderly experience a decrease in psychological well-being and quality of life. This is not in accordance with the concept of the family-centered care (FCC) model and can endanger the continuity of the elderly with chronic illnesses.

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore experience of FCC among patients with chronic illness, nurses, families, and volunteers.

Methods

This study examines the contextual-based FCC model qualitatively. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted by 12 elderly people, 3 nurses, 10 family members, and 3 volunteers. In total, 36 people, where several were FGD participants, were also interviewed in depth. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, with codes organized into larger themes.

Result

In total, 36 interviews and FGDs were conducted. The concept of information interaction, the phenomenon of emotional interaction, the practical interaction, and various factors that can either facilitate or impede interaction, were considered the four significant themes.

Conclusion

FCC acceptance is found in interactions between parents, nurses, family, and volunteers who are not optimistic. Lack of communication and collaboration was noted between community nurses and volunteers. Offer a new perspective on developing and implementing interventions that facilitate positive interactions, reduce family burdens, provide high-quality treatment for parents with chronic diseases, and improve the quality of care for those with advanced chronic conditions.

Recommendation

These insights provide a fresh perspective on how to develop and implement effective interventions in this context. It is recommended that future research should employ multiple methodologies to investigate FCC across diverse health practices for the elderly population.

Evidence for "Whole Family Approach" in accelerating uptake of COVID-19 and routine immunizations among integrated primary health services in Nigeria

The family is the simplest unit but possesses the strongest bond in society. These qualities - bond and proximity - that exist both within and across neighboring families, according to our research, can be instrumental in shaping a new kind of health promotion strategy that can transform health behaviors in communities. The Whole Family Approach (WFA) is a government-sanctioned approach to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria. The approach entails leveraging the high family-based demand for some primary health services, such as malaria, diabetes, hypertension, and reproductive services, to generate demand for COVID-19 and routine immunizations. However, since the announcement in 2021, there has been no available evidence to show the impact of the approach on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, though global literature generally favors family-centered health approaches. This study tests the effectiveness of the approach in increasing the utilization of target services in a Nigerian community and further provides a theoretical framework for the strategy. Two primary healthcare facilities were selected in two communities located in Abuja in a quasi-experimental design. After a small-sample landscape assessment of the communities and the facilities, family-targeting health promotion activities were facilitated in the intervention community (integrated health education by trained community health influencers) and facility (opportunistic health promotion through in-facility referrals) for one month. Anonymized service utilization data were acquired from both facilities over a period of four months to analyze their respective month-by-month service utilization trends. Time trend analysis was conducted and revealed that WFA significantly increased service utilization (N = 5870; p < 0.001, α = 0.01, 99% CI) across all the package services provided at the intervention facility. A supplementary Pearson's correlation analysis further presented a positive relationship (r = 0.432-0.996) among the services which favored the result. It can therefore be concluded that the "Whole Family Approach" of health promotion is efficacious in accelerating uptake of priority health services such as COVID-19 and routine immunizations. While there is more to be understood about this interesting approach, we recommend the improvement of communication and capacity gaps in Nigeria's primary healthcare system to ensure that promising strategies such as the WFA are adequately implemented at the community and facility levels.

The effect of family-centered empowerment model on the quality of life of adults with chronic diseases: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Family-centered empowerment model (FCEM) is a concept that strengthens the family to help a chronic patient to obtain a better quality of life (QoL). The effects of FCEM on QoL of chronic patients are still inconclusive. Therefore, this meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of FCEM on QoL of adult patients with chronic diseases.

METHODS

Following an online search PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, OVID, EMBASE, EBSCO, PsycINFO and Persian databases (Irandoc, IranMedex, SID and MagIran), all studies that tested the impact of FCEM on QoL of patients with chronic diseases were included. Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assessment the quality of included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and before/after studies. Analyses were conducted by STATA16.

RESULTS

Six hundred and ninety-seven studies were identified for screening. After screening process, 11 eligible studies were included in this meta-analysis. There were significant intervention effects in all QoL dimensions, physical and mental subscales and QoL total score (All P < 0.05). The minimum lower bound for SMD was 0.61 (95%CI: 0.96 to 1.66), indicating an increasing effect of the intervention on all QOL dimensions. The results showed substantial heterogeneity between the studies for all QoL dimensions, physical and mental subscales and QoL total scores (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

FCEM is an appropriate model with a simple and effective application for families with a patient suffering from a chronic illness. Nursing education planners and healthcare providers could benefit from this model for improving the nursing education curriculum and accrediting programs.

Family Involvement in Caring for Inpatients in Acute Care Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review of Literature

Family members, also known as patients' guardians (PG) are involved in caring for inpatients in acute care hospital settings. The practice is adopted from Family Centred Care (FCC) approach. This literature review aimed to provide an overview of key findings in literature on the practice of involving PGs in acute care hospital settings We used a systematic literature search to select original research articles or systematic reviews published in English between 2008 and 2019 that discussed PGs in acute care hospital settings. Studies that discussed PGs in long-term care hospital or in-home settings were excluded from this literature review. Literature was sought from CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO. CASP and JBI checklist was used to appraise the full-text articles for inclusion in the literature review. Twenty-six articles were included. Findings show that there is limited literature on this topic although healthcare institutions involve PGs in their routine inpatient care. Three themes emerged from the review; the FCC approach, roles of PGs in acute care hospitals, and implications of involving PGs in acute care hospitals. PGs offer any care that is left undone by nurses in acute care hospitals to ensure that their patients' needs are met. However, their involvement is not consistent with FCC principles. This leads to physical, psychosocial, and economic implications for PGs. We recommend that nurse practitioners should consistently implement FCC principles to enable PGs to offer meaningful care to their inpatients.

Use of the self- and family management framework and implications for further development

BACKGROUND

The Self- and Family Management Framework (SFMF) was created in 2006 and revised in 2015 to guide research on self- and family management of chronic conditions. There has been no review of use of the SFMF.

PURPOSE

We reviewed articles citing the SFMF to identify the frequency and nature of use.

METHOD

We conducted a citation analysis, searching Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases and extracted key data from identified articles.

FINDINGS

Of 126 articles, 84(66%) cited the 2006 SFMF, 37(29%) cited the 2015 SFMF, and 6(5%) cited both. The SFMF was used most to inform study design. Users noted strengths (e.g., considers family context) and limitations (e.g., non-specification of patient- family caregiver synergies) of the framework.

DISCUSSION

The SFMF has been used broadly to guide research on self- and family management of chronic conditions. Findings will inform development of a third version of the SFMF.

'There are no more secrets': acceptability of a family-centered model of care for HIV positive children in Eswatini

BACKGROUND

HIV-positive children have lagged adults on retention in HIV care and viral suppression. To address this gap, Eswatini's Ministry of Health started a pilot family-centered HIV care model (FCCM) targeting HIV-positive children under 20 years old and their families.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 25 caregivers and 17 healthcare workers (HCWs) to assess acceptability of FCCM in four pilot FCCM health facilities in Hhohho region of Eswatini. Thematic analysis with inductive and deductive codes was used to identify salient themes.

RESULTS

Caregivers and HCWs reported FCCM benefits including strengthening the family bond, encouragement for family members to disclose their HIV status and supporting each other in taking antiretroviral drugs. Caregivers reported that they spent fewer days in clinic, experienced shorter waiting times, and received better counseling services in FCCM compared to the standard-of-care services. FCCM implementation challenges included difficulty for families to attend clinic visits together (e.g., due to scheduling conflicts with weekend Teen Support Club meetings and weekday FCCM appointments). Both HCWs and caregivers mentioned difficulty in sharing sensitive health information in the presence of other family members. HCWs also had challenges with supporting caregivers to disclose HIV status to children and managing the larger group during clinic visits.

CONCLUSIONS

FCCM for HIV-positive children was acceptable to both caregivers and HCWs, and they supported scaling-up FCCM implementation nationally. However, special considerations should be made to address the challenges experienced by participants in attending clinic visits together as a family in order to achieve the full benefits of FCCM for HIV positive children.