Impact of Structured Empathy Oriented Family Counselling by Nursing Personnel and Hope Perceived by Family Members on Anxiety and Coping Responses among Family Members of Patients with Severe Head Injury in Christian Medical College Vellore South India

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Neurological and Neuro Surgical Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Department of Neurological Sciences Christian Medical College, Vellore, during a period of 10 months from August 2004 to May 2005. Focus of study was to assess the impact of the structured empathy oriented family counseling provided by the nursing personnel and hope perceived by family members of critically ill patients with severe head injury on their anxiety levels and coping responses. This study is supported by King s goal attainment theory. The samples were selected by random sampling by week. The study started with the control group. Alternate weeks were allotted for the control and the intervention group. The level of anxiety, hope and coping responses of the family members were assessed using developed tools (FACL, FHCL and CSCL respectively). The above mentioned developed tools were tested for content validity and reliability. The adopted tools were also used as a reference to develop the situation and culture oriented tool specific for the study. The instruments used for the study were: Tool 1 Socio-demographic and clinical data of patient and the family member, Tool 2 Family Anxiety Check List (developed) (FACL), Tool 3 Family Hope Check List (developed) (FHCL), Tool 4 Coping Strategy Check List, (developed) (CSCL), Tool 5 Empathy Rating Scale (developed) (ERS), Tool 6 Structured Empathy Oriented Family Counselling (SEOFC) - developed. Tool 6 Coping process recording guideline developed, Tool 7 Coping behaviour observation sheet developed. CONCLUSION: The study findings support two of the major hypotheses namely that family counseling can (1) reduce anxiety levels and (2) improve coping responses among family members of critically ill patients with severe head injury. The focus of nursing interventions is to maintain the present level of family functioning, prevent further psychological or physical deterioration, and educate families so that normal adaptation to the health crisis can be fostered.