Implementation of a Family Centered Intervention Among Families with a Parent or Child Who Is Severely Ill – Associations with Organizational Context

The Family Talk Intervention is a family-centered intervention in six sessions, which can be a tool to help health care social workers support families with dependent children when someone in the family has a severe illness. However, the influence of contextual factors on the implementation of Family Talk Intervention warrants further investigation. The purpose of this study was to examine the organizational context of social workers and its association with the implementation of Family Talk Intervention among families in which a parent or child is severely ill with identified palliative care needs. The study was part of a larger intervention project where Family Talk Intervention was implemented through a structured program in three different clinical care contexts: advanced palliative care, adult cancer care, and advanced pediatric care. Two validated instruments were used to measure social workers' ratings of their organizational context and the implementation of Family Talk Intervention. Results showed that higher ratings on certain organizational aspects were significantly associated with higher implementation ratings. These aspects, namely informal interactions, social capital and culture of the workplace, should be studied further. These may serve as facilitators for the implementation of family-centered interventions like Family Talk Intervention, by social workers and should be observed and promoted during the implementation of interventive processes.