Perceptions of stakeholders on family-centred care in the intensive care unit: an associative group analysis

Abstract

Introduction and background: Family-centred care in the intensive care unit has increased steadily over the past three decades, based on the premise that the illness and health of an individual family member affects the whole family unit. Although widely researched there are still inconsistencies in implementing family-centred care, which influences the ability to transfer research findings into practice. Research has shown that recognising the role of family members in the critical care environment should be considered an essential component to caring for the critically ill patient. Although recommendations have been made for the implementation of familycentred care, it is not feasible for all recommendations to be adopted by nurses and healthcare professionals in a single ICU. Nurses and healthcare professionals need to customise strategies to an individual intensive care unit to improve family-centred care. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore and describe nurses, healthcare professionals and family members’ perceptions of family-centred care in the intensive care unit. Research design and methods: A quali-quanti research design was used. Participants included nurses, healthcare professionals and family members in the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. There were a total of sixty (60) participants who took part in the study. Nurses were selected using stratified random sampling, healthcare professionals were selected using total population sampling and family members were selected using purposive, maximum variation and convenience sampling. Data was collected over a period of one month by means of structured interviews using an associative group analysis technique. Participants were asked to write down free word associations in relation to the stimulus word “family-centred care” in order to explore and describe their perceptions of family-centred care in the intensive care unit as it is currently, as it could be in the “ideal world” and any gaps that exist around these perceptions. Results: Five themes were derived from the data: communication, environment, continuum of feelings, reflections and spiritual care. Conclusion: The implementation of family-centred care should involve all stakeholders in the intensive care unit in order to address inconsistencies in perceptions around family-centred care. Keywords: Associative group analysis, intensive care unit, family-centred care, healthcare professionals, nurses, perceptions, stakeholders