Umbrella review of family-focused care interventions supporting families where a family member has a long-term condition

Aim

The aim of this study was to summarize reviews of family‐focused care interventions that support families with a family member with a long‐term condition across the life course.

Design

Umbrella review.

Data sources

Medline (1946–2019), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2019), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effect and EMBASE (1947–2019), CINAHL (1981–2019), Health Technology Assessment Database (2019) and PsycInfo (1806–2019).

Review Methods

All authors independently undertook title/abstract screening, data extraction and quality appraisal on a cluster of papers, working in groups of two or three to reach a consensus. The AMSTAR tool was used to appraise the quality of the studies and descriptive syntheses were undertaken.

Results

Fifteen reviews met the selection criteria. Overall family‐focussed care and associated terms were poorly defined. Typically interventions were educational or psychological therapy/counselling with the goal of empowering individuals to manage their condition. There is some evidence that family‐focused care interventions can improve clinical/biological health measures and self‐care outcomes such as treatment adherence. Multicomponent psychosocial interventions that include cognitive‐behavioural therapy, skills training, education and support and are focused on wider family members appear to improve family relationships and martial functioning.

Conclusion

Long‐term conditions have an impact on individual and family health and well‐being, yet the impact of family‐focused care interventions on family outcomes was overall inconclusive. A better understanding of how family‐focused care interventions improve the health and well‐being of individuals and their families is needed to promote the inclusion of family‐focused care into practice.

Impact

Supporting people with a long‐term condition is a key health and social care priority. Family‐focused care interventions have potential to improve the health and well‐being of individuals and families, but there is a need to evaluate their clinical and cost‐effectiveness. The findings from this review could be used by funding bodies when commissioning research for long‐term conditions.