The OCTO-Plus Intervention to Support Families of Chronically Critically Ill Children in Paediatric Critical Care: A Pilot Study.
Mark T Marston, Maria-Helena Perez, Anne-Sylvie Ramelet
PMID 41392419WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of chronically critically ill children in paediatric critical care could be recruited and kept in a nurse and physician-delivered family support pilot; stress, anxiety, depression and family functioning scores trended better, but it did not test whether the support works.
Key findings
01Eighteen families, with 27 parents and 18 children, were allocated to the intervention, and all allocated families completed it.
02Recruitment was difficult: 55 of 802 screened children were eligible, 19 enrolled, and 17 eligible families were missed because of resource constraints.
03Acute stress scores peaked 2 to 3 weeks after admission, then decreased at discharge and follow-up; anxiety and depression scores decreased; family functioning scores increased.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 18 families were analysed, and the study was single centre, so the findings cannot be generalised to all families of chronically critically ill children. Recruitment was challenging: 17 eligible families were missed because of time, workload or unavailability, and 19 refused participation. Only French-speaking parents were included, which may limit applicability to other language groups. This was a feasibility pilot, not an effectiveness trial, so the score changes cannot be attributed to OCTO-Plus. Patients and siblings were excluded from family consultations, so the intervention was tested only with parents. Child quality-of-life data were limited because only three parents reported for the 2 to 4 year and 5 to 7 year groups.
Declared interests
The supplied text reports a preparatory grant for A.-S.R. and M.-H.P. It does not provide a conflict-of-interest declaration or state that the funder designed or wrote the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower stress, anxiety and depression scores or the higher family functioning score as proof that the intervention works. This was a small pilot feasibility study, and the authors say the results only support progression to a full effectiveness trial.