Family engagement in paediatric acute care settings: A realist review.

AIM: To create a programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care to explicate the relationships between contexts and mechanisms of family engagement that align with family, direct care providers and healthcare organization outcomes. DESIGN: Realist review and synthesis. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science searches for the 2.5-year period (July 2019-December 2021) following our 2021 scoping review. REVIEW METHODS: Following methods described by Pawson and Rycroft-Malone, we defined the scope of the review, searched for and appraised the evidence, extracted and synthesized study findings and developed a supporting narrative of our results. RESULTS: Of 316 initial citations, 101 were included in our synthesis of the final programme theory. Contexts included family and direct care provider individualism, and the organizational care philosophy and environment. Mechanisms were family presence, family enactment of a role in the child's care, direct care providers facilitating a family role in the child's care, unit/organizational promotion of a family role, relationship building and mutually beneficial partnerships. Outcomes were largely family-focussed, with a paucity of organizational outcomes studied. We identified four context-mechanism-outcome configurations. CONCLUSION: This realist review uncovered underlying contexts and mechanisms between patients, direct care providers and organizations in the family engagement process and key components of a mutually beneficial partnership. Given that successful family engagement requires direct care provider and organizational support, future research should expand beyond family outcomes to include direct care providers, particularly nurses and healthcare organization outcomes. IMPACT: The final programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care provides a roadmap for clinicians to develop complex interventions to engage families and evaluate their impact. The components of our final programme theory reflect family engagement concepts that have been evolving for decades. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The team conducting this review included members from the practice setting (JT & KG). In the future, as we and others use this model in practice, we will seek input for refinement from clinicians, patients and caregivers.

Patient engagement, involvement, or participation - entrapping concepts in nurse-patient interactions: A critical discussion.

The importance of patients taking an active role in their healthcare is recognized internationally, to improve safety and effectiveness in practice. There is still, however, some ambiguity about the conceptualization of that patient role; it is referred to interchangeably in the literature as engagement, involvement, and participation. The aim of this discussion paper is to examine and conceptualize the concepts of patient engagement, involvement, and participation within healthcare, particularly nursing. The concepts were found to have semantic differences and similarities, although, from a nursing perspective, they can be summoned to illustrate the establishment of a mutual partnership between a patient and a nurse. The individualization of such processes requires the joint effort of engagement, involvement, or participation, represented by interactive actions of both the patient (asking questions, telling/speaking up, knowledge acquisition, learning, and decision-making) and the nurse (recognizing, responding, information sharing, teaching, and collaborating). Suggesting that the concepts can be used interchangeably comes with some caution, requiring that nurses embrace patients playing a role in their health and healthcare. Further research and practice development should focus on how patients and nurses receive and respond to each other to establish patient engagement, involvement, and participation.

Engagement of Families in the Care of Hospitalized Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review.

This scoping review was conducted to examine the range, nature, and extent of the published family engagement literature specific to the pediatric acute care setting to highlight future research and practice development opportunities. Included studies (N = 247) revealed global relevance. Engagement strategies ranged from more passive such as allowing/encouraging families to be present at the bedside to more active strategies aimed at promoting mutual and reciprocal nurse-patient interactions. Family engagement is distinguished by a mutually beneficial partnership of families with health care team members and care organizations. Future research in the area of family engagement in pediatric nursing should focus on determining the core engaging health professional behaviors and engaged parent outcomes; extending the knowledge base related to mutually beneficial partnerships between families and health care teams; developing effectiveness studies to determine the optimal engaging actions by teams to achieve parent engagement; and measuring the influence of engagement on parent and infant/child outcomes.

Mixed Methods Study of Nurse Assessment of Patient Preferences for Engagement During Hospitalization.

BACKGROUND: Global healthcare initiatives emphasize the importance of engaging patients in their healthcare to improve patients' experience and outcomes. Assessing patient preferences for engagement is critical, as there are many ways patients can engage in their care and preferences vary across individuals. OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of implementation of the Patient Preferences for Engagement Tool 13-Item Short Form (PPET13) during hospitalization on patient and nurse experience of engagement. Readmissions and emergency department (ED) usage within 30 days postdischarge were also examined. METHODS: The mixed methods study was conducted within two medical units in the United States between December 2018 and May 2019. Preimplementation group patients completed a demographic survey and the Patient Experience of Engagement Survey (PEES) on discharge. Implementation group patients completed the PPET13 within 24 hours of admission with their nurse and the demographic survey and PEES on discharge. A focus group with nurses who implemented the PPET13 was conducted following the implementation period. Data analysis included confirmatory factor analysis, multiple and logistic regression, and qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: There was significant improvement in PEES scores during the implementation phase. The PEES score was a significant predictor of ED visits, but not 30-day readmissions. Nurses were not always certain how to best integrate patient preferences for engagement into their care delivery and suggested integrating the PPET13 into the electronic health record to assist with streamlining the assessment and communicating preferences across the care team. DISCUSSION: Assessing patients' preferences for engagement using the PPET13 was associated with an improved experience of engagement, which was found to mediate the relationship between utilization of PPET13 and ED usage within 30 days postdischarge. Use of a patient engagement preference tool, such as the PPET13, can help inform the delivery of individualized engagement strategies to improve patient and family engagement and outcomes; however, nurses need formalized education on how to tailor their care to meet the individual engagement preferences of their patients.

Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Patient Preferences for Engagement Tool.

BACKGROUND: Assessing patients' preferences for engaging in healthcare is needed to inform the planning and delivery of individualized healthcare. Unfortunately, patients are often not engaged in their care to the extent that they would like, leading to patient feelings of disempowerment and frustration. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to (a) develop and (b) psychometrically test the Patient Preferences for Engagement Tool (PPET), a clinical assessment tool that can be used by nursing staff to identify patient preferences for engagement in healthcare. The usability of the PPET was also examined for both nurses and patients participating in the study. METHODS: The psychometric evaluation design used content and construct validity testing (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, known groups comparisons) and reliability estimation using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The sample consisted of 308 adult patients aged 18-101 years from a Midwestern U.S. Magnet-designated academic medical center. RESULTS: Content validity index was at least 0.8 for all but one item. Using a split sample, a six-factor solution was first identified using exploratory factor analysis and then confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. Demographic and illness factors were not significant predictors of factor scores. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of all six factors were >0.7. Both patients and nurses gave high ratings to the tool on effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with use. DISCUSSION: The PPET demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability estimates. Assessing patient preferences for engagement gives value to the patient voice and provides an opportunity to have discussions with patients about various ways they can engage in their healthcare. Future research will focus on reducing the number of items on the PPET to construct a clinically useful resource for providers to use to assess patient preferences for healthcare engagement, leading to the development of more personalized care delivery methods.