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CC BY 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2023; 13(02): 089-096
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1769933
Original Article

Anxiety and Depression Symptoms of Family Members of Intensive Care Unit Patients: A Prospective Observational Study and the Lived Experiences of the Family Members

Hande Gurbuz 
1   Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, University of Health Sciences, Bursa School of Medicine, Bursa City Hospital, Bursa, Turkey
2   Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation. Formerly: University of Health Sciences, Derince Training and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey
,
Nalan Demir 
2   Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation. Formerly: University of Health Sciences, Derince Training and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey
3   Department of Chest Diseases, Intensive Care Division, Ankara City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
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Funding None.
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Abstract

Background The aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting symptoms of anxiety and depression in the family members of critically ill patients.

Methods This prospective cohort study was conducted in an adult tertiary care mixed medical–surgical intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary-level teaching hospital. The symptoms of anxiety and depression of first-degree adult relatives were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Four family members were interviewed and asked about their experiences during the ICU process.

Results A total of 84 patients and their family members were included in the study. The symptoms of anxiety were present in 44/84 (52.4%), and depression was present in 57/84 (67.9%) family members. A nasogastric tube was found to be related to anxiety (p = 0.005) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.002). The family members of the patients with an acute developed illness had 3.9 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4–10.9) times the odds of having the symptoms of anxiety and 6.2 (95% CI: 1.7–21.7) times the odds of having the symptoms of depression than the family members of the patients with an illness developed on a chronic basis. The family members of the patients who died in the ICU had 5.0 (95% CI: 1.0–24.5) times the odds of being depressed than the patients discharged from the ICU. All interviewees stated having difficulty understanding and remembering what was told. The common feelings of all the interviewees were desperation and fear.

Conclusions Awareness of the emotional stress of family members can help develop interventions and attitudes to alleviate symptom burden.

Keywords

anxiety - intensive care unit - critically ill - death - depression - depressive symptoms - family

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.


Authors' Contributions

H.G. and N.D. contributed to protocol development, data collection, and management, data analysis, manuscript writing/editing.


Ethical Approval

The protocol of the study is approved by the institutional review board University of Health Sciences Kocaeli Derince Training and Research Hospital Clinical Trials Ethics Committee with a decree: 2019-131, date: 12.02.2019, and conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration.




Publication History

Article published online:
16 June 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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