Qualitative study on psychological experience in family members of middle-aged and young patients in emergency intensive care unit

Abstract

Objective To explore the psychological experience and feelings of family members of middle-aged and young patients in emergency intensive care unit (EICU) . Methods The family members of EICU patients from a hospital were selected by purposive sampling between August and September 2018. The 8 family members of middle-aged and young EICU patients received in-depth semi-structural interview using qualitative methods. Colaizzi method was used for analysis of the data. Results The psychological experience of the 8 family members of middle-aged and young EICU patients could boil down to 5 themes: negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, worry and self-accusation; positive emotions such as hope and facing the reality; heavy economic burden on family; change of social roles; and desire for social support. Conclusions Medical workers should pay attention to the psychological experience of family members, and provide them with psychological and informational support; meanwhile, they should utilise the social support system, and assist family members to get help from hospital, society and community so that family members' psychological burden can be alleviated, thus enabling the recovery and return to society in the middle-aged and young patients. Key words: Intensive care unit; Emergency service, hospital; Middle-aged and young; Psychological experience; Qualitative study