Feasibility of a standardized family participation programme in the intensive care unit

Admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) is frequently experienced as stressful and may negatively impact patients and their relatives. The majority of relatives report symptoms of anxiety, depression and/or posttraumatic stress related to the ICU stay, aggregated as postintensive care syndrome-family.

Researchers Boukje Dijkstra and Lilian Vloet hoped to find out whether the relatives' stress and anxiety during and after the patient's ICU stay could be decreased with help of family participation. The research group, led by Lilian Vloet (professor at the Research Department Emergency and Critical Care, HAN University of Applied Sciences), in collaboration with Hans van der Hoeven (professor of the Department of Intensive Care, Radboudumc) and Lucia uit het Broek, Lisette Schoonhoven, Frank Bosch, Marijke van der Steen and Paul Rood, published the results in Nursing Open on 8 January 2023.

A standardized programme to facilitate family participation in essential nursing care activities was successfully implemented in ICUs of three hospitals in the Netherlands from November 2018 until March 2019. Patients appreciated family participation and recognized that their relatives liked to participate. Most relatives appreciated being able to do something for the patient and to participate in essential care activities. The majority of relatives felt they had sufficient knowledge and skills to participate and did not feel obliged nor uncomfortable. ICU healthcare providers felt they were trained adequately and motivated to apply family participation; application was perceived as easy, clear and relatively effortless. Some healthcare providers felt uncertain about the patient's wishes regarding family participation, with some indicating the behaviours of relatives and patients discouraged them from offering family participation.

Use of a standardized programme to facilitate family participation in the ICU seems feasible and applicable as determined by relatives and ICU healthcare providers.

Publication in Nursing Open: Feasibility of a standardized family participation programme in the intensive care unit: A pilot survey study. Dijkstra B, Uit Het Broek L, van der Hoeven JG, Schoonhoven L, Bosch F, Van der Steen M, Rood P, Vloet L. Feasibility of a standardized family participation programme in the intensive care unit: A pilot survey study. Nursing open, 2023 10.1002/nop2.1603. Advance online publication.