Measurement in Family Nursing: Established Instruments and New Directions

Translation and Psychometric Validation of the German Version of the Iceland-Family Perceived Support Questionnaire (ICE-FPSQ): A Cross-Sectional Study

Supporting families experiencing critical illness through family interventions is essential to ease illness burden, enable family management, and reduce their risk for adverse health. Thus far, there is no validated German instrument to measure the perceived support families receive from nurses. We translated the 14-item Iceland-Family Perceived Support Questionnaire (ICE-FPSQ) and tested its psychometric properties with 77 family members of intensive care patients. Compared with the original instrument, the construct validity of the German ICE-FPSQ (FPSQ-G) showed unstable results with a partially divergent structure, most likely caused by the limited sample size. The first two principal components explained 61% of the overall variance and a good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of .92. The FPSQ-G is a promising instrument to measure family members' perceptions of the support they received from nurses in the acute critical care setting but requires further validation.

Obtaining feedback from patients and their family in the emergency department

Obtaining feedback from the patient and their family members regarding their experience of the care they received in the emergency department is important. This provides an extremely valuable opportunity for healthcare professionals to assess the quality of care and serves to highlight any areas of weakness or strength in the care experience. Through a synthesis of available literature, this article describes the challenges in measuring such an experience especially in emergency departments in Africa, and outlines tools that are currently available in literature to measure the patient and family experience and or satisfaction. Implementation considerations are outlined in order to provide recommendations for emergency department healthcare professionals wanting to undertake such assessments.

Tools to measure families experience in the emergency department: A scoping review

The aim of this review was to map literature on available tools measuring families experience in the emergency department and to identify domains being measured in the tools. A two-stage screening process was employed to determine eligibility of articles. Articles written in English language were retrieved, and data extracted on design, setting, sample and sampling, tool description and details, as well as data collection point used. From 165 articles initially screened, 8 articles were finally included and three tools identified namely: Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, Critical Care Family Needs Inventory-Emergency Department and one researcher-developed questionnaire. The domains measured, which were common to all tools, were those of communication, comfort, and support. Measuring families experience in the ED appears limited and this might be related to the difficulty around conducting research in an ED environment. This review provides important information for hospitals regarding how they engage with families and how they can influence current practice standards and processes, thus assuring improved quality of care.

Tips for Developing a Successful Family Research Proposal

Based on the authors' experiences conducting family research using varied methodological and conceptual approaches, the intent of this article is to offer practical advice for developing a successful research proposal that builds on existing work and makes a compelling case for the investigator's family focus, study design, and analytic approach. The article highlights key challenges unique to family research and offers suggestions and strategies for addressing the challenges.

Translating Knowledge From a Family Systems Approach to Clinical Practice: Insights From Knowledge Translation Research Experiences

While there has been continued growth in family nursing knowledge, the complex process of implementing and sustaining family nursing in health care settings continues to be a challenge for family nursing researchers and clinicians alike. Developing knowledge and skills about how to translate family nursing theory to practice settings is a global priority to make family nursing more visible. There is a critical need for more research methods and research evidence about how to best move family nursing knowledge into action. Enhancing health care practice is a multifactorial process that calls for a systemic perspective to ensure its efficacy and sustainability. This article presents insights derived from lessons learned through recent research experiences of using a knowledge translation model to promote practice changes in health care settings. These insights aim to optimize (a) knowledge translation of a Family Systems Approach (FSA) in practice settings; (b) knowledge translation research processes; and

Translation and Testing of the Italian Version of FAMCARE-2: Measuring Family Caregivers' Satisfaction With Palliative Care

Family satisfaction is an important outcome of palliative care and is a critical measure for health care professionals to address when assessing quality of care. The FAMCARE-2 is a widely used measure of family satisfaction with the health care received by both patient and family in palliative care. In this study, a team of Italian researchers culturally adapted the FAMCARE-2 to the Italian language and psychometrically tested the instrument by measuring satisfaction of 185 family caregivers of patients admitted into two palliative care services. FAMCARE-2 showed excellent levels of internal consistency (Cronbach's α coefficient = .96) and test-retest reliability ( r = .98, p < .01). The confirmatory factor analysis showed a single-factor structure with good fit. Satisfaction levels were significantly correlated with family caregivers being females with less education, patient length of care, and place of assistance and death. This scale can help health care professionals identify which aspects of care need improvement and enable family caregivers to manage their challenging role.