Assessing family quality of life in families of people with brain injuries: a Delphi study

Acquired brain injury (ABI) has a profound impact on the lives of survivors and their loved ones. However, there is a paucity of research on the quality of life of the whole family. Also, there are no instruments for assessing family quality of life (FQoL) from a holistic and systemic perspective after ABI in the Spanish context. The goal of this study was to identify a set of indicators and items of FQoL for this population in order to develop a preliminary version of such an assessment tool. A modified Delphi study was conducted with twelve social and healthcare professionals (70% women; age: M = 42.52, SD = 6.39) from ABI rehabilitation services and organizations (four psychologists, three neuropsychologists, three social workers, one nurse and one physiotherapist), who were asked to assess a pool of items throughout three rounds according to two criteria (importance and sensitivity). Descriptive analysis and percentage of agreement were employed to select the best items, as well as coefficients of concordance for the final pool of items. As a result, a pool of 71 items for five domains—Individual well-being, Family relationships, Family resources, Community relationships, and Community resources—was obtained. The findings of this study provided content validity evidence for a field test version of a FQoL tool, which may help to inform assessment and family-centered support planning for people with ABI and their families.