Stress, stress-related symptoms and social support among Taiwanese primary family caregivers in intensive care units

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the associations between stress, sleep disturbances, fatigue severity and social support among primary family caregivers in intensive care units during the early period of ICU hospitalisation.

Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study.

Setting: Intensive Care Units in a teaching hospital in Taiwan.

Main outcome measures: Perceived stress (Impact of Events Scale-Revised), sleep disturbances (General Sleep Disturbance Scale), fatigue severity (Lee's Fatigue Scale), social support (Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire) and one open-ended question.

Results: The primary family caregivers (N = 87) were distressed and experienced poor sleep quality and fatigue during the early period of ICU hospitalisation. Primary family caregivers have various social support needs but being updated on the patients' prognosis was at the top of the list. Perceived ICU hospitalisation stress was the only significant predictor for fatigue while age along with perceived event stress were the significant predictors for sleep disturbances.

Conclusion: Stress-coping interventions are needed to reduce stress-related symptoms for the primary family caregivers. Social supports did not buffer stress in this study, which calls for further research to explore the culture variance and quality of social support.

Keywords: Fatigue; Intensive care units; Primary family caregivers; Sleep disturbances; Social support; Stress.