The situation for family caregivers to patients with heart failure and their importance in heart failure nursing

The objectives of the four substudies are: 1) to explore family caregivers’ experiences and needs when caring for a relative with heart failure; 2) to explore registered nurses’ perceptions about the situation of family caregivers to patients with heart failure, and registered nurses’ interventions, in order to improve family caregivers’ situation; 3) to explore registered nurses' attitudes toward families in heart failure nursing and to identify factors that predict the most supportive attitudes; 4) to explore the effects and feasibility of a nurse-led health promoting family conversations over the phone with heart failure patients and their family caregivers.

The activities included in the project are individual interviews and focus group interviews, a web-survey and lastly an intervention. The interviews and intervention were conducted in the county of Västmanland and the web-survey was conducted nationwide.