On a healing journey together and apart: A Swedish critical incident technique study on family involvement from a patient perspective in relation to elective open-heart surgery.

Background: As family members affect patient outcomes following open-heart surgery, the objective was to provide updated knowledge on family involvement in to guide future interventions facilitating family involvement.

Aim: The aim was to explore and describe the experiences and actions of important situations of family involvement asexpressed by patients who underwent elective open-heart surgery in Sweden.

Methodological design and justification: The critical incident technique (CIT) was used, which is a qualitative research method suitable for clinical problems when a phenomenon is known but the experiences and consequences of it are not.

Ethical issues and approval: Considerations for patient integrity were made during the recruitment phase by ensuring that voluntary informed consent was obtained in two steps.

Research methods: Individual interviews were conducted with 35 patients who underwent open-heart surgery in Sweden in 2023. Important situations were analysed according to the CIT method.

Results: Two main areas emerged: Patients described important situations of family involvement as experiences of mutual dependency while also being independent individuals. These experiences led to balancing healing and risk-taking activities as a family. The positive consequences of family involvement described by patients included improved recovery through practical help at home and emotional support.

Conclusions: As complements to preserving the existing positive aspects of family involvement, social support screening, the establishment of individualised visitation policies and the provision of professional and peer support earlier can improve patient recovery following open-heart surgery.