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In-hospital interventions to promote relational practice with families in acute care settings: A scoping review


Waheedha Emmamally
Christen Erlingsson
Petra Brysiewicz

Abstract

Relational practice is characterised by genuine interaction between families and healthcare professionals that promotes trust and empowerment.  Positive clinical outcomes have been associated with relational practice. To assess and examine in-hospital interventions designed to promote  relational practice with families in acute care settings of emergency departments, intensive care units and high care units. The preferred reporting  Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines informed the design of this scoping review. To identify relevant studies, databases  (Academic Search Complete; CINAHL; PubMed; PsyInfo) and the search engine Google Scholar were searched using terms for core elements of  relational practice and family engagement. Of the 117 articles retrieved, eight interventional studies met the search criteria. The interventions  focused on relational practice elements of collaborating with and creating safe environments for families, whilst only one addressed healthcare  professionals being respectful of families’ needs and differences. In relation to the nature of engagement of families in interventions, the focus was  mainly on improving family functioning. Family engagement in the interventions was focused on involving families in decision-making. The scoping  review revealed a limited number of in-hospital interventions designed to promote relational practice with families in acute care settings. Further  research is encouraged to develop such interventions.


Contribution: The scoping review has highlighted specific elements of relational practice that  have been overlooked in the mapped interventions. This provides guidance on where future interventional research may be focused.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2071-9736
print ISSN: 1025-9848