Families of patients with low consciousness have an important role in supporting them and should acquire the necessary capability for patient care.

This study aimed to examine the effect of family-centered interventions on the self-efficacy of the families of patients admitted to the intensive care units.

This research was a randomized clinical trial with a pretest-posttest design conducted in intensive care units of hospitals in Khorram abad City, Iran, in 2019-2020. Seventy family members of patients were selected by convenience sampling and were assigned to the intervention (n=28) and control (n=28) groups by stratified random blocks. The study data were collected through the self-efficacy questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The intervention was carried out using a family-centered model. The collected data were analyzed using the statistical tests of the Chi-square, independent t-test, and paired t-test. Also, the generalized linear model was used to compare changes in self-efficacy scores of the two study groups after adjusting demographic, anxiety, and depression variables.

Data analysis showed that most samples were male (53.8%) with a mean age of 38.15±8.68 years. The results showed a significant difference in the mean scores of self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression between the intervention and control groups (P=0.001). The intervention significantly increased the Mean±SD of caregivers’ self-efficacy (40.14±14.35, P=0.001) in the intervention group. The results showed that the self-efficacy mean score of the intervention group was 36 scores higher than the caregivers’ self-efficacy of the control group (95% CI; 20.6-51.4, P=0.028).

The participation of family members of patients with low consciousness in the care of the patients in the intensive care unit has an effective role in the self-efficacy of caregivers of these patients.