A Whirlpool of Stress in Families of Intensive Care Unit Patients: A Qualitative Multicenter Study

Abstract

Background Family members of patients admitted to the intensive care unit must tolerate high levels of stress, making them emotionally and physically vulnerable. However, little is known about the kinds of stress family members may experience. Objective To explore perceived stress in the families of patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Methods This qualitative content analysis study involved 23 family members of patients admitted to intensive care units. Participants were drawn from family members of patients hospitalized in intensive care units of 3 public and 2 private hospitals. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. Results Three themes emerged from the data: “distrust,” “repeated stress exposure,” and “a whirlpool of persistent negative emotional-physical state.” The first theme had 2 categories: “fearful mindset” and “negative beliefs about professional caregivers.” The second theme also had 2 categories: “fear of the future” and “sustained accumulation of tensions.” The third theme had 3 categories: “impaired mental health,” “impaired physical health,” and “impaired family function.” Conclusions The findings of this study may help critical care nurses better understand the nature and sources of family stresses during a patient’s intensive care unit stay. Supervisory nurses should alert their staff to these issues so that family care programs can address them, thereby reducing family members’ risk of posttraumatic stress disorder and post–intensive care syndrome-family.

The Influence of Family function, Work Engagement, and Sleep on the Mental Health of Nurses in China's Top Three Hospitals : A Cross-sectional Study

“…The standardized path coe cient of family function to nurses' mental health is 0.17, implying that family function will positively affect nurses' mental health. This is consistent with the results of multiple studies [22,26,31]. Family function can play a bene cial role in regulating nurses' anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions, and thus in uences nurses' mental health.…”

“…The results of this study demonstrate that nurses' family functions are signi cantly correlated with work engagement, sleep, and mental health. Many research results abroad reveal that family function can play a bene cial role in regulating negative emotions such as anxiety and depression of nurses [20][21][22]. However, the correlation between family function and work engagement and sleep is rarely reported and may be related to the differences in family culture at home and abroad.…”

The experiences of the families of patients admitted to the intensive care unit

“…These problems can have a significant impact on the well-being of the family. Considering that the family is the first source of support for the patient, it is necessary to address these issues through structured interviews to prevent harm and develop appropriate planning ( 10 – 11 ). Several studies have highlighted the experiences of families with patients hospitalized in ICUs by focusing on family planning, decision-making for the patient, and improving patient care.…”

A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study: Eliciting ICU Experiences and Measuring Outcomes of Family Caregivers of Patients Who Have Undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

“…Hospital mortality for allogeneic HSCT recipients requiring an ICU admission ranges from 50% to 80% (Saillard et al, 2016) which is higher than the overall mortality rate of 10% to 29% for ICU patients (Society of Critical Care Medicine, 2021). An ICU admission is known to be a highly distressing experience for families (Aghaie et al, 2021; de Beer & Brysiewicz, 2017; Rodriguez-Almagro et al, 2019; Wong et al, 2019). However, HSCT family caregivers may enter the ICU experience already depleted from high levels of distress experienced prior to and during the transplantation process, especially if they had been providing care for many months or even years.…”