Background:

The critical illness situation often triggers a family crisis, with an impact on mental health. The family has specific needs associated with the uncertainty of the situation, the imminent risk of life, and also with the unknown technological environment, being one of the most emerging needs the need for communication. Therapeutic communication in nursing with the family reduces their suffering, because it clarifies the understanding of the situation, provides emotional support and reduces anxiety.

Aim:

To identify nursing interventions that optimize communication with the family of the critically ill person.

Method:

Integrative literature review, carried out by searching published papers and gray literature in the CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and ScienceDirect databases. 16 articles published between 2014 and 2019 were identified.

Results:

The results show the importance of nurses in transmitting updated information on a regular basis, using language accessible to the family's understanding; in the promotion of family conferences; in demonstrating an empathetic attitude, maintaining eye contact, actively touching and listening to the family suffering; in welcoming the family in the context, providing written information; in promoting confidence in the nurse and in the team and in emotional support, managing expectations and hope.

Conclusion:

The study allowed to identify therapeutic communication strategies with the family of the critically ill person, which requires competence for its use as an instrument of care, contributing to the mental health of the family in crisis.

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