The Effectiveness of a Family Nursing Education and Training on Mental Health Nursing Professional and Clinical Outcomes

Family-centered care is becoming recognized for its importance in mental health care. Yet, mental health nurses are often ill-equipped with family nursing knowledge and skills. Related effectiveness of nursing education training is limited as well. To address this issue, a three-year study will be conducted. The aim of the first year will be to examine (a) influencing factors on quality of family-centered care delivered by nurses and job satisfaction among mental health nurses and (b) the relationships between quality of family-centered care delivered by nurses and quality of family-centered care and quality of life perceived by patients and family members. A total of 68 patient-family member-nurse triads will be recruited. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlations, Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and a hierarchical liner modeling will be compiled. The purpose of the second year will be to develop a family nursing education and training (FNET) and examine its feasibility in relation to timeline of a project, recruitment rate, retention rate, adherence rate, and a protocol of an FNET. A quasi-experimental design with a two-group pretest and posttest will be applied. A feasibility study will be conducted with 24 patient-family member-nurse triads. Each triad will be assigned to an experiment group to participate in a family nursing education and training or a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group. The purpose of the third year will be to examine the effectiveness of a family nursing education and training on job demands, nurses’ attitudes toward the importance of families in nursing care, quality of family-centered care delivered by nurses, and job satisfaction among nurses and quality of family-centered care and health-related quality of life perceived by the patient and the family member. A quasi-experimental design with a two-group pretest and posttest will be used. 154 patient-family member-nurse triads will be assigned to an experiment group to participate in a family nursing education and training program or a TAU control group. Chi-squares, independent samples t-tests, and a generalized estimating equation will be used for data analysis. Research findings will enhance mental health nurses’ nursing profession and improve clinical outcomes of patients and family members.

Project ID:PF10901-1322
External Project ID:MOST107-2410-H182-018-MY3