Difficulty envisioning a positive future: Secondary analyses in patients in intensive care who are communication vulnerable

The purpose of this study was to report a secondary analysis of data collected through a primary study. The primary study was a, randomized, control trial that used a team‐designed (nursing, speech language hearing, engineering, communication sciences, and biostatistics), nurse‐led, electronic communication intervention (Speak for Myself Voice) and measured patient outcomes of symptoms of anxiety and depression in five intensive care units at a regional, magnet‐status, academic medical center. A secondary analysis of data using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale is reported here. The extant literature supports patient expressions of frustration, anger, anxiety, and depression when unable to communicate. This secondary analysis study report adds information about Hospital Anxiety and Depression subscales in the communication‐vulnerable population. Implications include emerging awareness of potential feelings of depression and anxiety in patients who are receiving mechanical ventilation or who are unable to verbally communicate for any reason (e.g. obstruction, trauma, head and neck cancer) in the intensive care unit.