Exploring nursing assessment, diagnoses, goals, interventions and outcomes in family nursing: an umbrella review protocol

Introduction: Families are a fundamental context for health, influencing care needs, decisionmaking, and health outcomes across the life course. In nursing, the family may be approached as context and/or as a unit of care; however, the conceptualization and operationalization of family nursing care planning remains inconsistent across clinical settings. Existing evidence suggests variability in how nurses assess families, formulate diagnoses, establish goals, implement interventions, and evaluate outcomes.Objectives: To outline the methodological approach for an umbrella review designed to map and synthesize evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses on nursing assessments, diagnoses, goals, interventions, and outcomes in family nursing, across all levels of family focus and healthcare contexts.Methodology: Following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for umbrella reviews, the searches will be conducted in MedLine Ultimate, CINAHL Ultimate, MedicLatina (via EBSCOhost), Scopus, and grey literature. Eligible sources will include systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in English, Portuguese, or Spanish between 2014 and 2025. The protocol adheres to PRISMA-P guidelines, and is registered in the Open Science Framework. Findings will be organized narratively and summarized in “Summary of Evidence” tables.Conclusions: The review will synthesize how family care planning is conceptualized and implemented in nursing practice, identifying shared elements, inconsistencies, and research gaps. It shall enhance understanding of family nursing care across contexts, reinforcing its theoretical and empirical foundations.