Perceived Benefits and Challenges Reported by Early Career Graduates in Providing Family-Focused Nursing Care

Family nursing science identifies illness as affecting an individual family member, and the family unit (Wright & Bell, 2009; Wright & Leahey, 2013).  Evidence also indicates the significance of the family to health outcomes (Chesla, 2010).  Research describes the benefits of family-focused nursing care during illness experiences with improved outcomes in chronic illness, mental health and family coping (Kelo, Eriksson, & Eriksson, 2013; Svavarsdottir,Tryggvadottir, & Sigurdardottir, 2012; Sveinbjamardottir, Svavarsdottir, & Wright, 2013).  In fact, family scholars (Wright & Leahey, 2013, p. 1) assert that nurses have a moral and ethical obligation to involve family in their nursing practice.  Yet, practicing nurses report family-focused care is not routinely practiced (Duhamel, 2010; Duhamel, Dupuis, Turcotte, Martinez, & Goudreau, 2015; Santiago, Lazar, Depeng, & Burns, 2014) and families report troubling relationships with nurses (Vandall-Walker & Clark, 2011; Eggenberger & Sanders, 2015), thus limiting positive health benefits to families.  These deficiencies and concerns may be linked to a lack of attention to current evidence related to family nursing practice and the significance of family health in nursing education curricula (Denham, Eggenberger, Young, & Krumwiede, 2016; Duhamel, Dupuis, & Girard, 2010; Eggenberger, Krumwiede, & Young, 2015a, 2015b; Nyriati, Denham, & Ware, 2012). 

In an effort to more fully translate family nursing science into nursing practice, Minnesota State University, Mankato, developed a family-focused baccalaureate-nursing curriculum (Eggenberger, Meiers, & Krumwide, in press).  Undergraduate students complete courses in family nursing science, with family-focused care integrated throughout the curriculum.  Courses blend family theory, research, and practice with experiential, simulation, or service learning components to prepare students to overcome the barriers they may encounter in their personal, professional, and practice world (Eggenberger, 2014).  Course development focuses on encouraging students to gain knowledge, skills, confidence, and attitudes necessary for providing family-focused nursing care.  Students in this program learn to “think family” in their nursing practice, regardless of the setting or the course.  The faculty teach from the stance that family-focused education in nursing curricula are critical for translating evidence into nursing practice at the bedside.  However, the impact of these educational processes in being able to fully operationalize family-focused nursing practice has yet to be described.  The challenges these future nurses face in implementing a nursing practice focused on family in a health care system that is often individual focused need to be identified.  Therefore, the purpose of this research was to understand the perceived benefits and challenges of providing family-focused nursing care in practice as reported by graduates, with less than two years of experience, from this innovative curriculum. 

An online survey (N = 150) was conducted of recent graduates from Minnesota State University, Mankato’s family-focused curriculum.  Recent graduates who chose to participate responded to open-ended questions about their experience in providing family-focused nursing care, and about the perceived benefits and challenges of incorporating family-care nursing into their daily nursing practice.  Questions seeking narrative responses will focus on the experience in providing family-focused care, as well as the key benefits and challenges.  A thematic analysis using descriptive phenomenology methods described by Speziale, and Carpenter (2011) and Spiegelberg (1975) will be used to examine the data.  A team of two researchers analyzing data will enhance the rigor of the study.  Results from this study will inform faculty and nurses in patient care settings about ways in which practicing nurses implement family nursing at the bedside.  These findings may serve to inform nurses in practice about how family nursing care can be incorporated into their practice setting.  Faculty may also use findings to strengthen family-focused nursing curricula.

References:

Duhamel, F., Dupuis, F., Turcotte, A., Martinez, A., & Goudreau, J. (2015). Integrating the illness beliefs model in clinical practices:  A family systems nursing knowledge utilization model. Journal of Family Nursing, 21(2), 322-348. doi:10.1177/1074840715579404

Eggenberger, S. K., Krumwiede, N. K., & Young, P. K. (2015a). Using simulation pedagogy in the formation of family-focused generalist nurses. Journal of Nursing Education, 54(10), 588-593.

Kelo, M., Eriksson, E., & Eriksson, I. (2012). Perceptions of patient education during hospital visit--described by school age children with a chronic illness and their parents. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 27(4), 773-1040. doi:10.1111/scs.12001