Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

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

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.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app