Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan; School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
School of Nursing, Hungkuang University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Heart Lung. 2021 Jul-Aug;50(4):491-498. doi: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2021.03.001. Epub 2021 Apr 6.
Family caregivers of intensive care unit (ICU) patients may experience distress due to their care recipients' unexpected ICU hospitalization. Social support in coping with stress has been discussed from different cultural perspectives, but social support does not seem to buffer stress for Chinese people.
The purpose of this study was to explore stress perception and social support needs and their associations among Taiwanese primary family caregivers of patients admitted to the ICU for the first time.
This descriptive correlational study used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), and structured interviews to explore stress perception and social support needs among Taiwanese primary family caregivers of patients admitted to the ICU.
The Taiwanese primary family caregivers (N = 71) perceived considerable social support, but they still experienced high stress, either daily life stress or ICU-related event stress. Most of them required extra support, such as discussion of medical conditions, disease treatment information and psychological support, even though they had social resources to assist them.
ICU health professionals should actively inquire about family caregivers' actual needs, even when family caregivers perceive considerable social support. Tailor-made interventions should be provided to assist family members in coping with stress. Further research should also explore the role of social support in stress and coping processes in Asian contexts due to cultural variance.
重症监护病房（ICU）患者的家庭照顾者可能会因患者意外的 ICU 住院而感到痛苦。从不同的文化角度探讨了应对压力的社会支持，但社会支持似乎并不能缓解中国人的压力。
本研究旨在探讨首次入住 ICU 的台湾重症患者主要家庭照顾者的压力感知、社会支持需求及其相关性。
本描述性相关性研究使用了感知压力量表（PSS）、修订后的事件影响量表（IES-R）、诺贝克社会支持问卷（NSSQ）和结构访谈来探讨 ICU 患者主要家庭照顾者的压力感知和社会支持需求。
台湾重症患者的主要家庭照顾者（N=71）感知到相当多的社会支持，但他们仍然经历着高压力，无论是日常生活压力还是 ICU 相关事件压力。他们中的大多数人都需要额外的支持，例如讨论病情、疾病治疗信息和心理支持，尽管他们有社会资源来帮助他们。
重症监护病房的卫生专业人员应该积极询问家庭照顾者的实际需求，即使他们感知到相当多的社会支持。应该提供定制的干预措施，以帮助家庭成员应对压力。由于文化差异，进一步的研究还应探讨社会支持在亚洲背景下的压力和应对过程中的作用。
