A Family Focused Nursing Intervention for Patients With Atrial Fibrillation - Effect of Group Education and Family Strength Orientated Therapeutic Conversations

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and it is a rising problem for patients in Western countries. AF is a costly public health problem with hospitalizations as the primary expenditure. The disease and treatment is complex and requires a high degree of patient adherence to prevent complications (stroke and major bleedings) and the burden of symptoms due to irregular heartbeat often leads to poor health related quality of life. Consequences of AF also often lead to impairment of physical functioning and mental health.

When illness is considered a family affair it is important for patients and their families to have a chance to talk about issues of hope, suffering and coping. A family will need support and solutions when successfully adjusting to having a family member with a chronic illness. Little is known about how families experience habituate life with AF, their concerns and feelings and their needs for support. FFN based on The Calgary Family Assessment model (CFAM) and the Calgary Family Intervention Model (CIFM) used as a theoretical model have been shown to be effective in family focused nursing interventions supporting patients and families in adjusting to life whit a disease. The effect of these models have never been tested in nursing interventions towards patients with AF and their families.

The aim of the study is to examine how AF- patients and families are influenced by AF and to test if involving family members in a FFN intervention with group education improves outcomes for patients with AF.

The study will consist of three sub-studies:

A phenomenological qualitative explorative study with family unit interviews, a study of focus group interviews with members of the family analyzed with content analysis, and a quantitative fidelity study (n=100/50 in standard care/50 in the intervention group) evaluating the effect of a family focused nursing intervention with improvement of quality of life living with AF as the primary outcome. Relevant statistical analyzes will be used.