Structured Approaches to Promote Patient and Family Engagement in Treatment in Acute Care Hospital Settings: Protocol for a Systematic Scoping Review

Background: While effective engagement of patients and families in treatment is increasingly viewed as a priorityfor many healthcare systems, much remains to be learned about the nature and outcomes of approaches that seekto accomplish this goal in the acute care hospital setting. Wide variability in the implementation of practicesdesigned to promote patient and family engagement in hospitals has been noted. Approaches aimed at promotingpatient and family engagement in treatment share the over-arching goal of changing behaviors of patients,families, and healthcare providers and possibly administrators. Behavior change techniques (BCTs) can be a keyelement of patient and family engagement approaches. This scoping review will contribute to the development ofan evidence base detailing that the BCTs have potential to be effective in patient and family engagementinterventions. The specific objectives of this review are to (a) identify and classify approaches used in acute carehospitals to engage patient and families in treatment according to the behavior change technique taxonomy; and(b) evaluate and synthesize the outcomes for these approaches for patients and families, healthcare providers, andhealth administrators/funders.Methods: This systematic scoping review will allow us to determine the extent, range, and nature of researchactivity related to initiatives designed to promote patient and family engagement in care. A comprehensiveelectronic literature search will be conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL. Studies will be included if theyreport on outcomes of a structured or systematic approach to the promotion of adult inpatient and familyengagement in treatment in acute care settings. Studies will be selected in a two-stage screening process (title andabstract; full text) and quality will be assessed using the mixed methods assessment tool. Data extraction willinclude narrative descriptions of the intervention and classification of the behavior change techniques employed.Discussion: This review aims to identify and classify the specific behavior change techniques underpinning patientand family engagement interventions used in acute care hospital settings. By identifying the “active ingredients” inthese interventions, our findings will be transferable to a wide range of acute care hospital contexts and populations