Objective: To establish family-centred health education for patients in a neurosurgery unit and to evaluate its impact on patients’ and families’ satisfaction.

Design: A cooperative inquiry as a participatory research through which a group of clinical nurses and an academic researcher engaged in cycles of action and reflection.

Setting: The study was conducted in a 26-bed neurosurgery unit in a university hospital located in a central province of Iran.

Method: A parallel mixed method was used to gather and analyse the data. Qualitative data regarding existing health education practice among nurses were collected using focus group discussions. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify problems in context. Quantitative analysis using t test (two tailed) was also done to compare the scores of patients and their families’ satisfaction with the nurses’ educational activities before and after implementing the agreed action plans.

Results: Three main hindering factors including intra-professional, inter-professional, and institutional factors were recognized as barriers to establishing family-centred health education. The satisfaction scores of patients and families with the nurses’ health education practices was significantly (P < 0.001) improved after performing the action phases.

Conclusion: It seems that improvement in patients and their families’ satisfaction indicated the success of the nurses in meeting health informational needs. Practical knowledge of health education practice was also enhanced through collaborative working.