(Krumwiede, Meiers, Bliesmer, Eggenberger, Earle, Murray, Harman, Andros, & Rydholm, 2004)
Process of family seeking information and appraising the meanings of occurrences and information about illness event to better understand the situation; a family caring strategy that often includes questioning members of their family and other families, as well as health care providers in an effort to help understand the illness event (Eggenberger, Meiers, Krumwiede, Bliesmer & Earle, 2004). Use “one question question” technique to elicit family concerns (Wright & Leahey, 2013)
· Provide consistent and ongoing information to family and guide family in the interpretation
· Respond to questions with honest, direct, and clear information
· Explore current family understandings and interpretations of events, data, environment, and experiences
· Provide mechanism for family to access information (e.g., consistent nurse, telephone support, valid internet resources, brochures)
· Acknowledge uncertainty and threat of the situation
· Acknowledge value of family group gathering information (e.g., emphasize the importance of different family member perspectives on the situation)