Invisible population: Understanding recruitment barriers of a nurse-led support programme for families with caregiving children in Austria.
Martin Nagl-Cupal, Julia Hauprich
PMID 32587736WHAT IT FOUND
No families joined a nurse-led family conference programme for young carers.
Interviews with nurses, managers and family members found young carers were invisible during morning home visits, families feared stigma, and the term conference and talking support felt unfamiliar.
Key findings
01After 8 months, no family had been recruited for the programme, and four families outside the pilot provinces were referred elsewhere.
02Nurse coordinators said home visits usually occurred in the morning or early afternoon, when children were at school, and the patient, not the family, was treated as the primary client.
03Families were seen as cautious about joining because participation meant revealing that children were caring and raised fears of criticism or child-welfare interference; leaflets did not help families see themselves as the target group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study did not interview young carers or families who declined or withdrew, so the reasons for non-participation were inferred from nurses, managers and four family members. It focused on the programme's recruitment and used a social marketing framework, which made it difficult to separate categories such as awareness, promotion and partner working. The sample was purposive and included project staff and management, so perspectives may reflect those responsible for the programme rather than the target families. No families were recruited, so the findings describe barriers to implementation, not whether the family conference programme would have helped families. The context was a nurse-led homecare pilot in four Austrian provinces, which may not apply to other services or countries.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest for the research, authorship or publication of the article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the family conference programme is ineffective. It was not tested with families because recruitment failed. Do not treat the barriers as confirmed experiences of young carers or families who declined; they were reported mainly by nurses, managers and a small number of family members.