The Family Perspectives Project: development and preliminary feasibility of a chaplain-delivered emotional support intervention for families of critically ill patients

While guidelines recommend that families of critically ill patients receive emotional support from intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians, few receive it. To address this gap, we designed the Family Perspectives Project, an intervention that utilizes hospital chaplains to enhance the emotional support that ICU teams provide to families. This study's objective was to refine and preliminarily test the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. The work occurred in two steps. First, we conducted qualitative interviews with stakeholders (n = 12) to refine the proposed intervention and design. Second, we conducted a single-arm feasibility study of the refined intervention in one ICU (9 patient-family dyads) and assessed feasibility and acceptability with validated measures on participant surveys. The intervention was delivered with high fidelity. Chaplains provided emotional support to families and created structured reports about family perspectives that clinicians reviewed. Participants found the intervention feasible and acceptable. A larger pilot randomized trial is warranted.