Nursing intervention studies: issues related to change and timing

A variety of challenges confront clinicians and researchers involved in developing and testing nursing interventions or programs for children and their families. Many of these challenges relate to the issues of change and timing. This paper discusses some of the critical questions that must be considered when designing and evaluating interventions with this particular population. Issues are illustrated with examples from a study that tested the effectiveness of a nursing intervention (based on the McGill Model of Nursing) in improving the psychosocial adjustment of chronically ill children. The authors propose that careful consideration of these questions will improve the design of intervention studies, the evaluation of their outcomes, as well as contribute to the development of our knowledge in this domain.