Empowering Support for Family Members of Brain Injury Patients in the Acute Phase of Hospital Care: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.
Julia Lindlöf, Hannele Turunen, Tarja Välimäki and 3 others
PMID 37191257WHAT IT FOUND
Family members of adults with traumatic brain injury in acute hospital care most wanted honest, tailored information, involvement in care and discharge planning, and coordinated support after discharge.
Nurses were seen as central to family support.
Key findings
01The review synthesized four themes of empowering support for family members: needs-based information, participation in care and discharge planning, competent interprofessional support, and community support with continuity after discharge.
02In one included study, 51% to 88% of family members reported not receiving enough guidance from health care professionals in acute care across five support aspects.
03Nurses were described as especially significant in empowering family members, and families hoped nurses would coordinate follow-up care and organize services after discharge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review found no nursing clinical trials testing whether empowering support improves family or patient outcomes. Most evidence came from family members' experiences and cross-sectional reports, not from tested interventions. The review looked mainly at individual family empowerment and did not examine organizational or community factors in depth. Searches were limited to English peer-reviewed articles from 2010 to 2021, so non-English or unpublished relevant work may be missing.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared. The study was supported by the Department of Nursing Science, University of Eastern Finland, Carers Finland, and The Finnish Nursing Education Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or submission.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these support elements have been shown to improve family or patient outcomes. The review reports family members' experiences and needs, and it found no nursing clinical trials testing whether empowering support works.