NCT05365919

Family Talk Intervention in the Context of Specialised Palliative Home Care

The Family Talk Intervention in Clinical Practice When a Parent With Dependent Children is Severely Ill: An Effectiveness-implementation Study

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 400 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Ersta Sköndal University College · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 6 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This intervention study aims to evaluate a psychosocial family based intervention in clinical practice, the Family Talk Intervention (FTI), for families with dependent children affected by life-threatening/life-limiting illness, when a parent is ill. The study has an effectiveness implementation hybrid design where both the effects of FTI and the implementation process in clinical practice are examined.

Detailed description

When a family with dependent children is affected by severe illness this affects the entire family. Still, there is little research evaluating support to such families. This intervention study aims to evaluate a psychosocial family based intervention in clinical practice, the Family Talk Intervention (FTI), for families with dependent children affected by life-threatening/life-limiting illness, when a parent is ill. The study has an effectiveness implementation hybrid design where both the effects of FTI and the implementation process in clinical practice are examined. FTI will be carried out as a cluster randomized trial at 12 clinics in specialized palliative homecare (6 units=intervention, 6 units=control). All social workers at these clinics will receive education and training in FTI in 2021. From 2022, FTI will be offered to families cared for at these care contexts. FTI is manual-based and consists of 6 meetings with the families (together and individually) and is led by the FTI-educated social workers. The aim of FTI are to support the family in talking about illness-related subjects (e.g. prognosis, stress), support parenting, and support the family in identifying their strengths and how to best use them. FTI will be evaluated through surveys and interviews with families before FTI/baseline and after completed intervention (3 and 6 months after baseline). Further, social workers will be invited to compete questionnaires and take part in focus groups about their experiences of FTI. The research group has conducted pilot-studies on FTI in these contexts with positive results. The present study allows us to take a further step in the evaluation of FTI- evaluate FTI under real conditions.

Conditions

• Terminal Illness

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Family Talk Intervention	FTI entails six meetings, with intervals of 1-2 weeks between meetings. Meetings 1-2 include only the parent(s) and focus on their experiences of the situation, as well as the consequences of the diagnosis for each family member. The parent(s) will formulate the goal of the intervention. Meeting 3: Interviews will be held with each child and includes the child's life situation. Meeting 4 includes the parent(s) and focuses on planning the family meeting. The children's thoughts and questions serve as a guide for the upcoming family meeting. Meeting 5 is a family meeting and consists of questions and issues raised earlier by the family members. Meeting 6 is a follow-up with all family members. The meeting is guided by the family members' needs, e.g., regarding communication and parenting. If the intervention is interrupted unexpectedly and cannot be finished as scheduled due to extraordinary circumstances, extra meetings are available (Meetings 7-11).

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-04-01
• Primary completion: 2024-06-30
• Completion: 2024-12-31
• First posted: 2022-05-09
• Last updated: 2023-10-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Sweden