The Prevalence of Spiritual and Social Support Needs and Their Association With Postintensive Care Syndrome Symptoms Among Critical Illness Survivors Seen in a Post-ICU Follow-Up Clinic

Abstract

Objectives: Spiritual and social support may be key facilitators for critical illness recovery and are identified as high priority for research. Understanding the prevalence of spiritual and social support needs in critical illness survivors may guide development of targeted interventions for support, which, in turn, may improve critical illness survivor quality of life. To characterize unmet spiritual and social support needs in critical illness survivors approximately 1 month after hospital discharge and examine the association of these needs with postintensive care syndrome (PICS)-related symptom burden.

Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional study.

Setting: University-affiliated hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.

Patients: One hundred ninety-six consecutive adult critical illness survivors seen during an initial post-ICU clinic visit from June 2018 to March 2020.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and main results: Patient-reported clinical outcome measures assessing spiritual and social support needs and PICS-related symptoms were extracted from the electronic health record. Patients had a median age of 61 (interquartile range [IQR], 51-68.5), and majority were male (55.1%) with a moderate comorbidity burden (Charlson comorbidity index median score, 3; IQR, 2-5). Social support and spiritual needs were prevalent. Of the 196 patients, over 50% reported unpreparedness/fearful for the future, half of patients reported not feeling in control of their care, and over one-third reported needing more support than their family, friends, or insurance can provide. Nearly 13% of respondents reported feeling abandoned or punished by God/not supported by their church/faith. Many patients reported overlapping PICS-related symptom domains (physical, psychologic, and cognitive). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed associations between reported PICS-related symptoms and the presence of spiritual and social needs.

Conclusions: Patients surviving critical illness experience significant social support and spiritual needs independent of commonly identified manifestations of PICS. These findings support the need for formal assessment and tailored interventions for social support and spiritual needs in critical illness survivors.

Keywords: ICU survivor; critical illness recovery; postintensive care syndrome; social support needs; spiritual needs; symptoms.