Benefits Of Family Involvement Research Articles

Patients' and family members' experiences of psychiatric inpatient services in China: a comparison based on a dyadic design.

Due to the family-oriented cultural and legal context in China, understanding the difference between patients' and family members' experiences of psychiatric services not only enriches perspectives of service quality assessment, but also promotes service utilization. This study aimed to compare experiences of psychiatric inpatient services between patients and their family members in China. The study included 126 dyads of patients and family members consecutively recruited from the psychiatric inpatient department in a large hospital in China. The responsiveness performance questionnaire was used to measure the experiences of psychiatric inpatient services after patient discharge. After adjusting reporting heterogeneity based on vignettes, dyad difference was examined by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Bonferroni correction in multigroup testing. Subgroup analyses were conducted within strata of four selected clinical and socio-demographic factors, to test their influence on difference pattern of experiences. Poor consistency was found for all responsiveness items and the total scores among the 126 dyads and in most subgroup analyses (ICC < 0.6). Paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests found that patients rated lower than their family members on the item of "asking user's opinions" in 126-dyad comparison (P < 0.05) and 3 subgroups related to severe mental disorders and income inequality after Bonferroni correction. Results reveal inconsistent experiences of psychiatric inpatient services within families in China. Moreover, when making medical decisions, family members' opinions, rather than patients', are more frequently taken into consideration, especially on conditions where imbalanced decision-making power exists between patients and their family members. In the future, user experience improvement should pay equal attention to patients and family members, and the benefits of family involvement and patients' rights of shared decision-making should be carefully balanced.

Family Involvement in Adult Hearing Evaluation Appointments: Patient Perspectives.

Background Many adults suffer from an array of consequences due to their hearing loss (e.g., self-efficacy, mastery, psychosocial challenges). Family involvement can help improve their outcomes. Purpose This study aimed to determine audiology adult patients hearing experiences and inquired about their perspectives on family involvement in appointments. Research Design A cross-sectional survey was completed. Descriptive statistics, item analyses, and quantitative analyses were used to examine patient's characteristics and perspectives. Study Sample Three hundred eighty-two adult audiology patients participated in the study. Data Collection and Analysis A 15-item survey was created with 4 sections, including patient demographic information, general hearing questions, hearing experiences, and family interactions and involvement. Descriptive statistics were used to examine patient's characteristics and perspectives on family involvement in audiology appointments. Chronbach's alpha was used to reveal good internal consistency of difficult feelings related to hearing and perceived negative family member reactions. Quantitative analyses were used to determine patient perspectives on family involvement. Results Though patients reported difficulties due to their hearing loss, more than half reported that they did not want family involvement or they were unsure of the benefit that the involvement would provide. Patients who were interested in having family involved reported benefits such as educational opportunities and support. Few barriers of family involvement were reported by patients. Conclusions Patients had a mixed desire about family involvement in their adult audiology appointments. Education of patients about the benefits of family involvement may need to happen for this shift in audiologic practice.

Attitudes Toward Family Involvement in Cancer Treatment Decision Making: The Perspectives of Patients, Family Caregivers, and Their Oncologists.

To investigate how cancer patients, family caregiver, and their treating oncologist view the risks and benefits of family involvement in cancer treatment decision making (TDM) or the degree to which these perceptions may differ. A nationwide, multicenter survey was conducted with 134 oncologists and 725 of their patients and accompanying caregivers. Participant answered to modified Control Preferences Scale and investigator-developed questionnaire regarding family involvement in cancer TDM. Most participants (>90%) thought that family should be involved in cancer TDM. When asked if the oncologist should allow family involvement if the patient did not want them involved, most patients and caregivers (>85%) thought they should. However, under this circumstance, only 56.0% of oncologists supported family involvement. Patients were significantly more likely to skew their responses toward patient rather than family decisional control than were their caregivers (P<.003); oncologists were more likely to skew their responses toward patient rather than family decisional control than caregivers (P<.001). Most respondents thought that family involvement is helpful and neither hamper patient autonomy nor complicate cancer TDM process. Oncologists were largely positive, but less so in these ratings than either patients or caregivers (P<.002). Patients, family caregivers, and, to a lesser degree, oncologists expect and valued family involvement in cancer TDM. These findings support a reconsideration of traditional models focused on protection of patient autonomy to a more contextualized form of relational autonomy, whereby the patient and family caregivers can be seen as a unit for autonomous decision.

Implementation of Multifamily Group Treatment for Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury

This study evaluated the initial efficacy and feasibility of implementing multifamily group treatment for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Veterans at two Veterans Affairs medical centers were prescreened by their providers for participation in an open trial of multifamily group treatment for TBI. Enrollment was limited to consenting veterans with a clinical diagnosis of TBI sustained during the Operation Enduring Freedom-Operation Iraqi Freedom era, a family member or partner consenting to participate, and a score ≥20 on the Mini-Mental State Examination. The nine-month (April 2010-March 2011) trial consisted of individual family sessions, an educational workshop, and bimonthly multifamily problem-solving sessions. Interpersonal functioning and symptomatic distress among veterans and family burden, empowerment, and symptomatic distress among families were assessed before and after treatment. Providers referred 34 (58%) of 59 veterans screened for the study; of those, 14 (41%) met criteria and consented to participate, and 11 (32%) completed the study. Severity of TBI, insufficient knowledge about the benefits of family involvement, and access problems influenced decisions to exclude veterans or refuse to participate. Treatment was associated with decreased veteran anger expression (p≤.01) and increased social support and occupational activity (p≤.05), with effect sizes ranging from .6 to 1.0. Caregivers reported decreased burden (p≤.05) and increased empowerment (p≤.01). The results supported implementation of a randomized controlled trial, building in education at the provider and family level.

Beyond the Schoolhouse: Understanding Families Though Preservices Experiences in the Community

The benefits of family involvement in the education of children with disabilities are well documented. Few teacher education programs, however, implement specific strategies for encouraging interactions between families and those preparing to be teachers. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the local membership of a professional association for persons with disabilities (i.e., Council for Exceptional Children) developed a summer community-based program involving preservice teachers. The Support Network for Kids in the Community (SUN) program required that the preservice teachers interact with children with various disabilities and their families in inclusion summer recreation activities as part of university coursework. The preservice teachers assisted the students at community sites, acted as mentors, provided assistance to the recreation leaders, and interacted with the families. The preservice teachers, as a result, were able to understand more fully the challenges faced by the children and their families. The SUN program development and coordination efforts required of the university and community partners are discussed as well as the positive and unique reflections reported by the preservice teachers.

Family Centered Care in Adult Mental Health: Developing a Collaborative Interagency Practice

This article reviews the literature on family burden and the benefits of family involvement when an adult family member experiences a mental illness. A family centered care model is proposed as a best practices approach for supporting both the identified patient and the family. The experiences of Ross Memorial Hospital in developing an interagency model for family centered care are described. A case example illustrates this best practices approach with a family coping with major depressive disorder in an adult family member.

Building Family Partnerships: The Journey From Preservice Preparation to Classroom Practice

This study reports the relationship of an undergraduate course in family and community relations to the teaching practices of 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-year elementary and early childhood education graduates of a mid-sized Midwestern university. Sixty students were surveyed using the Peabody Family Involvement Survey (Katz & Bauch, 1999), with a treatment group (n = 21) having taken the course, and a control group (n = 39) who did not, in order to both quantify and qualify a difference in practices based on preservice preparation. Quantitative measures indicated minimal differences between groups. Qualitatively, however, treatment group members reported engaging families in creative, less standardized levels of involvement than members of the control group. Treatment group members articulated a theoretical and practical understanding of the benefits of family involvement. They emphasized importance of collaboration between home and school, while control group members expressed frequent antagonism and ambivalence toward families.

Costs and Benefits of Family Involvement in Homework

Homework represents one research-based instructional strategy linked to student achievement. However, challenges abound with its current practice. This paper presents the results of three 2-year longitudinal interventions of the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) homework program in elementary mathematics, middle school language arts, and middle school science. Each weekly standards-related TIPS assignment included specific instructions for students to involve a family partner in a discussion, interview, experiment, or other interaction. Depending on subject and grade level, TIPS students returned between 72% and 91% of TIPS activities, and families signed between 55% and 83% of TIPS assignments. TIPS students and families responded significantly more positively than controls to questions about their emotions and attitudes about the homework experience, and TIPS families and students reported higher levels of family involvement in the TIPS subject. No differences emerged in the amount of time students spent on subject homework across the homework groups, but students using TIPS for 2 years earned significantly higher standardized test scores than did controls. The findings suggest that the benefits of TIPS intervention in terms of emotion and achievement outweigh its associated costs.