The goal of the FamICom project is to gain insight into how doctors communicate with parents of seriously ill children about decisions regarding withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. By exploring this communication, gaps can be identified and concrete improvements can be made to the process of communication and decision-making with family members of seriously ill patients. Various questions are explored, such as: What uncertainties do doctors discuss with parents when uncertainty is the only certainty? How do doctors communicate these different uncertainties? To what extent are parents provided with the opportunity to express their emotions in these emotionally-loaded and complex conversations? Which emotions do parents typically express? How do doctors respond to these emotions? And to what extent do doctors’ responses influence the course of the conversation? In addition, the current training of young doctors in complex communication will be examined, as well as the needs and desires of young doctors themselves for further development in conducting these uncertain, emotional and complex conversations.
Research team:
- Promovenda: Sanne Prins
- Co-promotoren: dr. Mirjam de Vos en dr. Annemiek Linn
- Promotoren: Prof. Anton van kaam en Prof. Job van Woensel
Status: Ongoing since september 2021
Financiering: ZonMW