Psychological repercussions in family members of hospitalised critical condition patients

Objective: We analysed the influence of certain variables [quality of life (QoL) and passage of time] of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) on other variables (clinical dimensions of personality, family environment, fear of death) of their family members. Method: Fifty-seven family members of ICU patients filled in five questionnaires when the patients stayed in the ICU, and 4 years later, the patients filled in a QoL questionnaire. Results: The following results were obtained: (1) Passage of time has influence on Agitation, Boredom-withdrawal, Psychopathic Deviation, and Psychological Inadequacy, only in family members of patients with good QoL; (2) family members score higher in Hypochondriasis, Suicidal Depression, Agitation, Anxious Depression, Guilt-resentment, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Psychological Inadequacy, and Expression, and lower in Fear of the process of another's dying, when the patient was in ICU than 4 years later; (3) family members of patients with bad QoL 4 years after ICU score higher in Hypochondriasis, Suicidal Depression, Agitation, Schizophrenia, Psychasthenia and Psychological Inadequacy than did the family members of patients with good QoL. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.