Effects of Family Caregiver-Nurse Communication on Family Management and Family Caregiver Uncertainty Regarding the Care of Children With Long-Term Ventilator Dependence.
Barbara K Giambra, Kathleen Knafl, Stephen Haas and 4 others
PMID 39491333WHAT IT FOUND
Caregiver uncertainty about a child's long-term ventilator care was not linked to caregiver or nurse communication behaviors.
Nurse advocacy and role negotiation were linked to mixed family management outcomes, not proven effects.
Key findings
01No caregiver or nurse communication behavior was significantly correlated with caregiver uncertainty in simple comparisons.
02In the final model, more caregiver asking was linked to higher uncertainty, while more nurse advocating was linked to less caregiver effort but lower partner satisfaction.
03More nurse role negotiation was linked to caregivers seeing the child's life as less normal and the condition as more serious, more difficult, and more effortful to manage.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done at one unit in one hospital, and most caregivers and nurses were White, non-Hispanic, highly educated, English-speaking, and female, so it may not apply to other families or staff. It did not test a communication intervention. It recorded conversations during care and analysed associations. The analysis counted how often behaviors occurred, not what was said, so the meaning of advocating or role negotiation is unclear. Recording devices may have changed what nurses and caregivers said. The COVID-19 pandemic began after the first year of data collection and may have influenced conversations. The nurse attitude scale had poor internal consistency in this study, and one family management scale had questionable reliability. Secondary caregivers were not included in the analysis.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a conflicts of interest or funding declaration. The publication types indicate NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurses should advocate less or negotiate roles less because these behaviors were linked to some worse family management reports. The study only counted how often behaviors occurred, did not analyse the content, and did not test a communication intervention, so it cannot show cause.