RESEARCH ARTICLE


Family Health Conversations have Positive Outcomes on Families - A Mixed Method Research Study



Åsa Dorell1, *, Ulf Isaksson1, Ulrika Östlund2, Karin Sundin1
1 Umea University, Department of Nursing, Campus Ornskoldsvik, Box 843, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
2 Centre for Research & Development, Uppsala University/Region Gävleborg, Gävle, Sweden

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2017
Volume: 11
First Page: 14
Last Page: 25
Publisher ID: TONURSJ-11-14
DOI: 10.2174/1874434601711010014

Article History:

Received Date: 15/01/2016
Revision Received Date: 10/10/2016
Acceptance Date: 20/10/2016
Electronic publication date: 28/02/2017
Collection year: 2017

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Creative Commons License
© 2017 Dorell et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Umea University, Department of Nursing, Campus Ornskoldsvik, Box 843, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden; Tel: +46 660 29 25 28; Fax: +46 660 29 34 69; E-mail: asa.dorell@umu.se


Abstract

Background:

Having a family member living in a residential home affects the entire family and can be hard to handle. Family members require encouraging and open communication support from nurses during and after relocation to a residential home. A Family Systems Nursing intervention, “Family Health Conversations” (FamHC) was conducted in order to strengthen the health of families having relatives at residential home for older people.

Objectives:

The aims of this study were to evaluate the responses to the Family Health Conversations in families with a member living at a residential home for older people and to integrate the empirical results with a theoretical assumption upon which the intervention was based.

Methods:

A mixed methods research design was used. The Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey and the Family Hardiness Index were administered before and 6 months after the intervention. Qualitative data was collected by semi-structured interviews with each family 6 months post-intervention. The sample included 10 families comprising 22 family members.

Result:

Main finding was that FamHCs helped family members process their feelings about having a member living at a residential home and made it easier for them to deal with their own situations. FamHCs helped to ease their consciences, improve their emotional well-being, and change their beliefs about their own insufficiency and guilt. Seeing problems from a different perspective facilitated the families’ thinking in a new way.

Conclusion:

These findings showed that FamHC could be an important type of intervention to improve family functioning and enhance the emotional well-being.

Keywords: Family Hardiness Index, Family Health Conversation, Family Systems Nursing, Intervention, Mixed methods research design, Older people, Transition, Quality of Life.