Objectives: To perform a systematic review of the literature to determine which questionnaires are currently available to measure family satisfaction with care on the ICU and to provide an overview of their quality by evaluating their psychometric properties.
Data sources: We searched PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and CINAHL from inception to October 30, 2013.
Study selection: Experimental and observational research articles reporting on questionnaires on family satisfaction and/or needs in the ICU were included. Two reviewers determined eligibility.
Data extraction: Design, application mode, language, and the number of studies of the tools were registered. With this information, the tools were globally categorized according to validity and reliability: level I (well-established quality), II (approaching well-established quality), III (promising quality), or IV (unconfirmed quality). The quality of the highest level (I) tools was assessed by further examination of the psychometric properties and sample size of the studies.
Data synthesis: The search detected 3,655 references, from which 135 articles were included. We found 27 different tools that assessed overall or circumscribed aspects of family satisfaction with ICU care. Only four questionnaires were categorized as level I: the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, the Society of Critical Care Medicine Family Needs Assessment, the Critical Care Family Satisfaction Survey, and the Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit. Studies on these questionnaires were of good sample size (n ≥ 100) and showed adequate data on face/content validity and internal consistency. Studies on the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory, the Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit also contained sufficient data on inter-rater/test-retest reliability, responsiveness, and feasibility. In general, data on measures of central tendency and sensitivity to change were scarce.
Conclusions: Of all the questionnaires found, the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory and the Family Satisfaction in the Intensive Care Unit were the most reliable and valid in relation to their psychometric properties. However, a universal "best questionnaire" is indefinable because it depends on the specific goal, context, and population used in the inquiry.