An in-depth look at family-centred care in the primary care consultation

Heather L Rogers, Itxaso Respaldiza Berroeta, Aitor García Moreno, Sandra López Caballero, Marga López Rey, Mª Cruz Muñoz González, Ander Portugal Martínez, Amaia Rueda Merino, José Manuel Vidal Arboiro, Juan José Rodríguez Salvador

Keywords: Person-centred care, family, communication

Background:

A number of definitions of family-centred care (FCC) have been proposed for a variety of care contexts, involving different health professionals, and specific to diverse health conditions. Associated theorectical models have been synthesized in a recent scoping review (Kokorelias et al., 2019) into a universal model in which the overarching goal is FCC plan development and implementation. The model has four components: 1. Consideration of family context; 2. Patient, family, and care provider collaboration; 3. Illness-specific education; and 4. Dedicated policies and procedures. However, very little is known about the implementation of these FCC components in real world primary care consultations.

Research questions:

The main aim of this study is to begin to document what FCC looks like in different primary care settings across Europe.

Two primary research questions are:
1. How is FCC defined across different European primary care settings? Are all 4 components used?
2. How is FCC implemented across different European primary care settings? How do these components translate into the real world?

Sub-questions of interest include:
A. How is family defined and what are the implications for primary care consultations?
B. How are issues with respect to privacy and cognitive capacity handled?
C. Do triadic consultations (consultations that involve a patient and at least one family member) extend beyond pediatric and geriatric consultations? Under what circumstances and why?

Method:

Because of the lack of instruments for valid measurement of FCC, qualitative research approaches would be favored. Semi-structured interviews with carefully selected informants would be optimal to begin to gain insight into these questions.

Results:

TBD

Conclusions:

TBD

Points for discussion:

How do you define family-centred care?

When do you move from FCC model 1. 'Component consideration of family contexts to model' 2. component 'Collaboration with family members'? What criteria do you employ?

What dedicated FCC policies and procedures exist within your practice and/or health care system?