Advanced Practice Nursing Experience of a Female Adolescent With Leigh Syndrome and Her Family: A Family Strengths-Oriented Therapeutic Conversations Approach

Abstract

This article applied a family strengths-oriented therapeutic conversations approach to explore the advanced practice nursing experience of a female adolescent with Leigh Syndrome and her family. During the nursing care period from September 20 to November 19, 2022, the author collected data through direct care, observation, interview, telecare, home visits, and medical record reviews and confirmed the nursing problems to be the inadequate coping capability of the family. The author leveraged her advanced nurse practitioner role and used family strength-oriented therapeutic conversations to enable the parents of the patient to reflect on their experiences with this disease and to improve their quality of life and satisfaction with healthcare services. Three modes of care, including accessibility, coordination, and comprehensiveness, were offered to the female adolescent patient and her family to achieve the goal of family-centered, community-based, and medical-system-centered care. It is suggested that before making healthcare decisions, patients and their families should be given the opportunity to participate in the healthcare process and reach consensus on healthcare decisions based on existing evidence and their values and preferences. The medical decisions made by patients and their families after carefully considering their current situation and needs should be supported and assisted.