The Effectiveness of Family Health Conversations Delivered by Nurses: A Systematic Review.
Birte Østergaard, Erla Kolbrun-Svavarsdottir, Anne Brødsgaard and 7 others
PMID 40761096WHAT IT FOUND
Nurse-led family conversations gave mixed results for family functioning: five studies showed benefit, one showed decline, and seven showed no clear difference.
Eight of 14 perceived-support studies showed improvement.
Key findings
01Across 13 papers measuring family functioning, five reported positive effects, one reported a decline, and seven reported no clear difference.
02Eight of 14 papers using the ICE Perceived Family Support Questionnaire reported better perceived support in favour of the intervention compared with control.
03In all included studies, nurses delivered the conversations, ranging from one to five sessions lasting 15 minutes to 2 hours.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only six of 24 papers were RCTs, and two were small pilots. Sample sizes were often small and many studies lacked power calculations. Studies used different conversation doses, outcome measures, follow-up times and patient groups, so results could not be pooled. In some studies, the conversation was part of a broader support programme or combined with a 2-hour group education session, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The evidence came mainly from Nordic countries, especially Iceland, so it may not apply to other health systems. Only English-language papers were searched, which may have missed relevant studies. Baseline group similarity and assessor blinding were often unclear in the quality assessment.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse-led family conversations alone improve family functioning. The primary outcome was mixed, and in some studies the conversation was combined with a broader support programme or a 2-hour group education session.