SynthesisBMJ open2021
Interventions to promote family member involvement in adult critical care settings: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of digital communication tools on patients, family members and health care professionals in adult ICUs: a mixed-methods systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Family Support Strategies During Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingPooled it
- Surrogate resilience and clinical titration of presence in the open intensive care unit: a systematic narrative synthesis.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Review
- Article
- Association between the clinical status of patients admitted to Intensive Care and the emotional state of their next of kin: a cross-sectional study.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Article
- Relatives' Involvement in the Care Pathway of Patients With Acquired Brain Injury or Malignant Brain Tumour: An Observational Study.Nursing research and practice · 2026Article
- Article
- What Adult Medical Care Can Learn from Pediatrics: Creating Comfort, Connection, and Joy in the Hospital.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes · 2025Article
- Health care providers' perceptions of family participation in essential care in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
- Advancements in Managing Choledocholithiasis and Acute Cholangitis in the Elderly: A Comprehensive Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- [Relatives after a stay on the intensive care unit: a care gap to be closed].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2024Article
- Remaking critical care: Place, body work and the materialities of care in the COVID intensive care unit.Sociology of health & illness · 2024Article
- Understanding patient and family experiences of critical care in Bangladesh and India: What are the priority actions to promote person-centred care?PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- The Italian Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit Questionnaire: A Psychometric Evaluation Using the Rasch Model.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Article
- Jordanian Patients' Family Members Need Perceptions in the Critical Care Settings: Nurses' Perspectives versus Family Members' Perspectives in the Context of Health Informatics.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo identify, appraise and synthesise evidence of interventions designed to promote family member involvement in adult critical care units; and to develop a working typology of interventions for use by health professionals and family members.
designMixed-method systematic review. DATA SOURCES: Bibliographic databases were searched without date restriction up to June 2019: MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Joanna Briggs and Cochrane Libraries. Back issues of leading critical care and patient experience journals were manually searched, as were the reference lists of included studies. All evaluation studies of relevant intervention activities were included; all research designs and outcome measures were eligible. Due to heterogeneity in interventions, designs and outcome measures, the synthesis followed a narrative approach. Service users met with the research team termly.
resultsOut of 4962 possible citations, a total of 20 studies were included. The overall evidence base was assessed as moderate to weak. Six categories of interventions were identified: environmental unit changes (n=2), web-based support (n=4), discussion-based support (n=6), multicomponent support (n=4), participation in rounds (n=3) and participation in physical care (n=1). Clinical and methodological heterogeneity across studies hindered meta-analysis, hence a narrative synthesis was pursued. Six main outcomes were identified, grouped under two categories: (i) involvement outcomes: communication (
conclusionsFuture interventions should be developed with much closer family member input and designed by considering the key features we identified. We call for future interventions to be multilayered and allow for a greater or lesser level, and different kinds, of involvement for family members. Choice of intervention should be informed by a baseline diagnostic of family members' needs, readiness and preparedness for involvement. PROSPERO REGISTRATION: CRD42018086325.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.