Family meetings in palliative care: A systematic review

Objectives: Family meetings play a critical role in facilitating communication in palliative care, but more evidence is needed to support their broader adoption in clinical practice. This systematic review aimed to summarize family meetings’ key characteristics and their effects on patient and family member health outcomes in palliative care. Methods: Six databases were searched for studies published between 2015 and 2024. Eligible studies involved adult patients (≥ 18 years) with serious illnesses and/or their family members; utilized family meetings as the sole intervention; and reported on qualitative and/or quantitative health outcomes. Results: Of the 790 articles initially identified, 16 met the eligibility criteria. The studies were conducted primarily in the United States and Australia. Family meetings varied in delivery timeframe, processes, components, and facilitators. Preliminary quantitative and qualitative evidence suggests positive effects of family meetings on family members’ psychosocial outcomes. Although four studies reported the impact of family meetings on patients' health care utilization, few directly examined patients’ psychosocial outcomes. Conclusions: Family meetings are conducted in diverse ways across health care settings. Future studies are needed to employ more robust study designs, collect comprehensive data on both short- and long-term outcomes, and evaluate impacts on health care utilization to comprehensively understand the benefits and effectiveness of family meetings in palliative care. Practice implications: Standardizing family meeting processes and procedures is essential to ensuring quality. Palliative care providers would benefit from targeted education and training focused on the core intervention elements necessary to maximize the effectiveness of family meetings.