Involving family members in the care of military personnel and Veterans: A decisional counseling intervention

Abstract: Changes to health care delivery mean that family members are increasingly called upon to provide informal care for injured or ill military personnel and Veterans. When one family member has a long-term physical or mental health condition, many areas of family life are affected (e.g., emotional functioning, daily activities, family relationships, health and sleep, holidays, care involvement and caregiving support, work and study, and finances). One way to better support families is to meaningfully involve them in care planning and coordination. This article discusses some of the challenges that practitioners and families face when working as partners in care. It also offers practitioners a way to talk with military personnel and Veterans about the value of sharing their health-related information with family members. There are barriers to family-centred care in military-connected families. Practitioners face challenges navigating privacy and confidentiality provisions. Families report difficulties accessing important health-related information from military personnel and Veterans. This article highlights the impacts of informal care on families, identifies at-risk caregivers and families, outlines the family-centred approach to care, and discusses cultural barriers to information sharing in military and Veteran families. A decisional counselling intervention is detailed, which provides practitioners with an informed-consent process for facilitating the sharing of health-related information in military and Veteran families. The intervention is both patient- and family-centred, while managing the medico-legal risks practitioners must navigate in relation to privacy and confidentiality provisions. Given the challenges military and Veteran families face with respect to family-centred care, a pilot study that compares the effectiveness of the proposed decisional counselling intervention with treatment-as-usual is warranted.

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