Factors associated with the decision to offer memory making in end‐of‐life: A survey of healthcare professionals in adult intensive care

• Published in: Journal of clinical nursing 2023-06, Vol.32 (11-12), p.2627-2641
• Main Authors: Riegel, Melissa, Randall, Sue, Buckley, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Behavior; bereavement; Critical Care; Death; Decision Making; Delivery of Health Care; end of life; Families & family life; grief; Health Personnel - psychology; Health services; Humans; Intensive care; Interpersonal relations; keepsake; Leadership; Medical personnel; Memory; memory making; Nurses; Polls & surveys; Social workers; Sustainable development; terminal care; Terminal Care - psychology; transitional object; Workloads
• ISSN: 0962-1067; 1365-2702
• DOI: 10.1111/jocn.16323

Aim Report experiences and behaviour influences with healthcare professionals’ decision to and experiences of offering memory making during end‐of‐life care in the adult acute population. Background Little is known about healthcare professionals’ experiences offering memory making during adult acute end‐of‐life care. Design Survey. Methods Registered nurses, medical practitioners and social workers employed at a single tertiary referral adult intensive care, where memory making had been implemented nearly two years prior were invited to participate between June and August 2017. Reporting adheres to the STROBE checklist. Results Ninety‐six valid surveys (75% response rate: 75 registered nurses, 19 medical practitioners, and 2 social workers) were analysed with 67 participants reporting experience offering memory making. Highest overall agreement scores included believing families value memory making and the offer of memory making being beneficial. Enablers were described as organisational supports, personal qualities and good interpersonal relationships. Barriers identified included the intensive care environment, workload, inexperience offering/facilitating memory making, being afraid to offer, lack of resources and legality concerns. Compared with non‐experienced participants, experienced participants reported higher level of confidence and comfort offering memory making, pride in their ability, ability to spend time supporting families and had observed colleagues offering memory making. Experienced participants were less likely to be afraid to offer, be limited by the family's behaviours, report lack of resources or be time limited to offer memory making. Conclusion Findings identify elements needed for the development and support for offering memory making to assist bereaved families in adult acute care including role modelling, support to reduce negative emotions, workload assistance and leadership/organisational support. Relevance to clinical practice Discoveries have important implications in addressing evidence gaps regarding behaviour influences linked to the decision to offer memory making. Findings inform development and sustainability to integrate memory making as routine end‐of‐life care intervention in adult acute care.