The Family Talk Intervention in clinical practice when a parent with dependent children or a child is severely ill: An effectiveness-implementation study

When a family with dependent children is affected by severe illness this affects the entire family. Still, there is little research evaluating support to such families.

This intervention study aims to evaluate a psychosocial family-based intervention in clinical practice, the Family Talk Intervention (FTI), for families with dependent children affected by life-threatening/life-limiting illness (when a parent or a child is ill).

The study has an effectiveness-implementation hybrid design where both the effects of FTI and the implementation process in clinical practice are examined.

FTI will be carried out in three different contexts: in specialized palliative homecare, in cancer care, and in pediatrics, all in which a parent or child is severely ill.

A cluster randomized trial at 6 clinics in specialized palliative homecare will be performed (3 units=intervention, 3 units=control).

In parallel with this, FTI will be implemented at a university hospital, on their initiative, at the cancer care for adults and in pediatrics, with a pre-post design. All social workers at these clinics will receive education and training in FTI in 2021. From 2022, FTI will be offered to families cared for at these care contexts.

FTI is manual-based and consists of 6 meetings with the families (together and individually) and is led by the FTI-educated social workers.

The aim of FTI are to support the family in talking about illness-related subjects (e.g. prognosis, stress), support parenting, and support the family in identifying their strengths and how to best use them.

FTI will be evaluated through surveys and interviews with families and social workers before FTI/baseline and after completed intervention (3 and 6 months after baseline). The research group has conducted pilot-studies on FTI in these contexts with positive results. The present study allows us to take a further step in the evaluation of FTI- evaluate FTI under real conditions.