Family Studies Center

Sponsered Research

Related Links

• USA Today article on marriage and blood pressure
• BYU Article on Ross Flom's "Babies and Beethoven" Research
• USA Today Article on Julianne Holt-Lunstad's Marriage and Health Research
• Release of new book by Rebecca de Schweinitz
• See Reuters Article on the Research of J. Holt-Lunstad

Families as Potential Obstacles to End-of-Life Care: A Nursing Perspective

This study seeks to research the frequency and intensity of family behaviors as obstacles to end-of-life care. In previous research, critical care nurses identified 25 major obstacles to end-of-life care, 11 of which were specific family behaviors.

Now, 1500 critical care nurses from AACN (the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) will be surveyed to help determine the answer to four questions:

1. Which obstacles to providing end-of-life care to dying patients do critical care nurses perceive as being the most frequent and intense?
2. Which helpful behaviors to providing end-of-life care to dying patients do critical care nurses perceive as being the most frequent and intense?
3. Which care behavior at the end of life would critical care nurses most like to see changed?
4. In what specific ways can families enhance their helpful behaviors and minimize their impact as obstacles in the end-of-life care process?