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Family members' experiences with intensive care unit diaries when the patient does not survive
Author(s) -
Johansson Maria,
Wåhlin Ingrid,
Magnusson Lennart,
Runeson Ingrid,
Hanson Elizabeth
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/scs.12454
Subject(s) - feeling , metaphor , intensive care unit , theme (computing) , psychology , qualitative research , nursing , family member , medicine , family medicine , social psychology , psychiatry , sociology , social science , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , operating system
Objective The aim of the study was to explore how family members experienced the use of a diary when a relative does not survive the stay in the intensive care unit ( ICU ). Method A qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach was used. Nine participants who read/wrote eight diaries in total were interviewed. The collected data were analysed using a hermeneutic technique inspired by Geanellos. Findings The analysis revealed an overall theme ‘the diary was experienced as a bridge connecting the past with the future’, which was a metaphor referring to the temporal aspect where there was the period with the diary up until the patient's death and then the postbereavement period. The diary contributed to both a rational and emotional understanding of the death of the patient and disclosed glimmers of light that still existed before the illness deteriorated. Further, the diary bridged the space between family members themselves and between family and nursing staff. It helped to maintain a feeling of togetherness and engagement in the care of the patient which family members found comforting. Conclusion Family members of nonsurvivors had a need to have the ICU time explained and expressed. The diary might work as a form of ‘survival kit’ to gain coherence and understanding; to meet their needs during the hospital stay; and, finally, to act as a bereavement support by processing the death of the patient.