(Re)‘Thinking’ family in nursing care in pandemic times

Aim:This study aimed to identify which strategies are being adopted to deal with familyrestrictions in health units and assess nurses’ perceptions of including families in nursingcare during the current pandemic.Background:DuetotheCOVID-19pandemic,healthorganisationslimitedaccessforvisitors.Introduction:Familycentredcareneedstobeguaranteed,andalternativesforface-to-face interaction should be fostered. Therefore, there is an urgent need to rethink thefamily in nursing care during a pandemic.Methods:We conducted a descriptive exploratory mixed-method study in Portugalusing an electronic questionnaire. The study included 192 nurses recruited using a non-probabilistic convenience sample. The study was reported using the Strengthening theReporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines.Results:A total of 41.1% of participants (n=79)reportedthatvisitstotheirserviceswere not authorised, and 66.7% (n=128) reported resorting to video calls because of therestrictions imposed. Regarding attitude assessment, the average score of the scale was77.9 (SD=10.0), ranging between 26 and 98. When analysing the different dimensionsof the ‘Families’ Importance in Nursing Care - Nurses Attitudes’ scale, family data standout as a burden.Conclusion:Although a large percentage of participants had a positive attitude towardsfamilies and tried to find strategies to maintain family centred care, many nurses stillconsidered the family as a burden. The current COVID-19 pandemic may have aggra-vated this perception.Implications for nursing practice, nursing policy and health policy:The contin-ued implementation of family centred nursing practice is essential for child-well-being,including during the current pandemic. Therefore, having intervention policies withalternative forms of care is highly recommended. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion