Family TIME: A Family-focused Nursing Intervention for Adults Receiving Haemodialysis and Their Families

August 31, 2026 updated by: University of Southern Denmark

Family TIME: Protocol for a Randomised Mixed-methods Feasibility Study of a Family-focused Nursing Intervention for Adults Receiving Haemodialysis and Their Families

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether a structured family conversation intervention can be delivered in a feasible and acceptable way to adults living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and their family members. The study will also explore whether the intervention and study procedures are suitable for a future larger clinical trial.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Can adults with CKD and their family members be successfully recruited, enrolled, and retained throughout the study? Is the Family Time intervention acceptable and practical for patients, family members, and healthcare professionals? Are the study procedures and selected questionnaires appropriate for evaluating a future larger trial? Does the intervention show potential to support family functioning and well-being?

Researchers will compare the Family Time intervention plus usual care with usual care alone.

Participants will:

Complete questionnaires before and after the study period. Be allocated to either the Family Time intervention or usual care. If allocated to the intervention group, participate in three structured family conversations over approximately 8 weeks, with the option of one additional follow-up conversation.

If allocated to the intervention group, be invited to take part in an interview about their experiences after completing the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Adults living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience substantial physical, emotional, and social challenges that extend beyond the individual and influence everyday family life. Family members frequently take on important supportive roles while simultaneously experiencing changes in family routines, responsibilities, communication, and well-being. Although family involvement is recognised as an important component of person-centred CKD care, structured family-focused interventions remain limited, and evidence supporting their implementation in routine nephrology practice is scarce.

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Family Time, a nurse-led family-focused intervention developed to support communication, shared understanding, and relational well-being among adults living with CKD and their families. The intervention has been developed following the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions and informed by evidence synthesis, qualitative research, stakeholder workshops, and patient and family involvement.

A mixed-methods randomised feasibility trial will be conducted at two in-centre haemodialysis units in Denmark. Adults receiving in-centre haemodialysis and at least one participating family member will be allocated to either the Family Time intervention plus usual care or usual care alone. The intervention consists of three structured family conversations delivered over approximately 8 weeks, with the option of one additional follow-up conversation. Sessions are facilitated by the principal investigator and may be delivered face-to-face, online, or by telephone according to family preferences and practical circumstances.

The primary outcomes are feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and study procedures, including recruitment, retention, intervention delivery, questionnaire completion, and participant experiences. Secondary exploratory outcomes include family functioning, individual well-being, and family communication, assessed using the Iceland Expressive Family Functioning Questionnaire (ICE-EFFQ), the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and post-intervention qualitative interviews.

The findings will inform refinement of both the intervention and study procedures and determine whether progression to a future definitive randomised controlled trial is warranted.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Jeannett A Klitgaard, Master of Science in Nursing
  • Phone Number: +4540478192
  • Email: jekl@ucl.dk

Study Locations

  • Denmark
      • Odense, Denmark
        • Odense University Hospital
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patient aged 18 years or older
  • Currently receiving in-centre haemodialysis for CKD
  • Has received in-centre haemodialysis for at least 3 months
  • Able to read, speak, and understand Danish
  • Able to provide written informed consent
  • Able to identify at least one family member willing to participate
  • Participating family member aged 18 years or older
  • Participating family member able to speak and understand Danish
  • Participating family member able to provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Documented cognitive impairment preventing informed consent or participation
  • Clinically assessed as too physically or psychologically unwell to participate
  • Unable to participate in Danish
  • Currently receiving structured family therapy or another family-focused psychosocial intervention

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Usual care
Participants allocated to the control group will receive usual care provided by the participating haemodialysis units throughout the study period.
Experimental: Family Time + Usual Care
Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive the Family Time intervention in addition to usual care.
Other: Family TIME
Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive the Family Time intervention in addition to usual care. The intervention consists of three structured family conversations delivered over approximately 8 weeks, with the option of one additional follow-up session. Conversations are facilitated by the principal investigator and may be delivered face-to-face, online, or by telephone according to family preferences and practical circumstances.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recruitment rate
Time Frame: From the first family conversation to completion of the intervention, up to 8 weeks.
Number and proportion of eligible family units recruited into the study.
From the first family conversation to completion of the intervention, up to 8 weeks.
Retention rate
Time Frame: 8 weeks after baseline
Number and proportion of participants completing follow-up.
8 weeks after baseline
Intervention delivery
Time Frame: From the first family conversation through completion of the intervention, up to 8 weeks.
Number and proportion of planned structured facilitated family conversations completed according to protocol.
From the first family conversation through completion of the intervention, up to 8 weeks.
Intervention acceptability
Time Frame: 8 weeks after baseline
Acceptability assessed using the Danish version of the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM).
8 weeks after baseline
Study procedures
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 9
Questionnaire completion rate, follow-up completion and completeness of data collection procedures.
Baseline and Week 9
Implementation considerations
Time Frame: Throughout the 8-week intervention period and at post-intervention interview in Week 9
Barriers and facilitators identified through intervention logs, facilitator field notes and qualitative interviews.
Throughout the 8-week intervention period and at post-intervention interview in Week 9

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Family functioning
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks after baseline.
Family functioning will be assessed using the Iceland Expressive Family Functioning Questionnaire (ICE-EFFQ), a 17-item questionnaire assessing expressive family functioning, including communication, emotional expression, collaboration and family relationships. Total scores range from 17 to 85, with higher scores indicating more positive expressive family functioning.
Baseline and 8 weeks after baseline.
Individual well-being
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks after baseline.
Subjective well-being will be assessed using the World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Raw scores range from 0 to 25 and are transformed to a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater subjective well-being.
Baseline and 8 weeks after baseline.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Southern Denmark

Collaborators

Odense University Hospital
Griffith University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Hanne Agerskov, Professor, Odense University Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

August 10, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 31, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 3, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 31, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Family TIME

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data underlying the results reported in publications will be made available upon reasonable request, subject to approval by the study investigators, applicable ethical approvals, institutional policies, and Danish data protection regulations.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 3 months after publication of the primary results and continuing for 5 years.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data will be available to qualified researchers for scientifically sound research purposes following publication of the primary study results. Requests will be reviewed by the study investigators and the data controller.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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