Beyond Colloquial Use: A Concept Analysis of Family Care Management in A Chronic-Conditions Context.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Family care management is a colloquial concept that is widely applied to health and social care worldwide. Despite that the concept has been in use in a variety of contexts for decades, a substantial number of scientific papers apply it with seemingly little consistency. In this study, we therefore report a concept analysis of family care management within a chronic-conditions context from the nursing perspective.

Methods: A review of recent nursing and health-related literature covering the years 2000-2020 was performed on the concepts of family care, family nursing, family management, and care management. Nineteen studies were extracted for this analysis. Utilizing the Walker and Avant concept-analysis strategy, we defined attributes and analyzed the antecedents and their consequences.

Results: The concept is defined from the perspective of health professionals. Five key attributes of family care management were identified: supervising situations, providing guidance, creating partnerships, a philosophical foundation, and a management style. Antecedents to the conductance of family care management included chronic health status, demographic and socioeconomic factors, and shortage of resources. The outcome of family care management was then described with respect to both positive and negative aspects.

Implication for practice: Family care management is a highly abstract concept. We described two sub-concepts in need of clarification, including dynamic management behavior and a static management frame. Without a clear understanding of family care management, the concept is at risk of being relegated to a vague colloquial expression. Developing a theory of family care management might position the concept in a theoretical context, and could provide health providers with a point of reference for meaningful family care management strategies within their practices.