Predictors of posttraumatic growth of the family members of neurosurgical intensive care unit patients: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: Intensive & critical care nursing 2022-02, Vol.68, p.103134-103134, Article 103134
• Main Authors: Lin, Qi, Dong, Fanghui, Xue, Yiwei, Yu, Qunya, Ren, Junhong, Zeng, Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Cancer; Caregivers; China; Chinese languages; Chronic illnesses; Cognitive ability; Critical Care; Cross-Sectional Studies; Decision making; Disease; Emotion; Emotions; Families & family life; Family; Family relation; Family relations; Gratitude; Hospitalization; Humans; Injuries; Intensive care; Intensive care unit; Intensive Care Units; Interpersonal relations; Mental health; Neurosurgery; Parents & parenting; Patients; Post-traumatic growth; Posttraumatic growth; Posttraumatic Growth, Psychological; Quality; Questionnaire; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Relatives; Religious beliefs; Resilience; Resilience, Psychological; Sample size; Social support; Survey; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trauma
• ISSN: 0964-3397; 1532-4036
• DOI: 10.1016/j.iccn.2021.103134

Confronted with the potentially traumatic experience of a patients intensive care unit hospitalisation, family members may show positive changes associated with growth in addition to negative impact. This study aimed to identify the level of posttraumatic growth of the family members of neurosurgical intensive care unit patients and to explore its relation to positive personality characteristics, such as gratitude, resilience and hope. A cross-sectional study involving 340 family members of patients admitted to the neurosurgical intensive care unit at a general tertiary hospital in Shanghai, China. Before the patients’ hospital discharge, the participants completed questionnaires, assessing posttraumatic growth (PTG Inventory), social support (Social Support Rating Scale), resilience (Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), hope (Herth Hope Index) and gratitude (Gratitude Questionnaire Six-Item Form). The mean total posttraumatic growth score was 73.38 (14.02). Hope, gratitude, resilience and social support showed a positive correlation with the posttraumatic growth Inventory scores. There were significant differences in the posttraumatic growth scores of the family members of neurosurgical intensive care patients with respect to their different religious beliefs, payment methods, family relationship quality and presence of chronic diseases among family members. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gratitude, resilience and social support were independent predictors of the posttraumatic growth Inventory score. Family members may experience some degree of posttraumatic growth during hospitalisation of patients in the neurosurgical intensive care units. Gratitude, social support and resilience are predictive factors for posttraumatic growth.