Hello,
we are a group of Psychology students from The Netherlands who are currently writing our bachelors thesis about the effects of the admission of a family member into the ICU on the mental and physical health of individuals. Since the study is mainly addressed to caregivers I thought I could give it a try and post it into this group, since we are in urgent need of participants. It would be very appreciated if you could take a few minutes and share your experience as a caretaker by filling out our survey. It is completely anonymous and you would be a huge help for us :)
Have a nice day everyone!
This is the link to the study: https://utwentebs.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_db9X4DbEfsnsEU6
This is the link to the survey:
https://utwentebs.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_db9X4DbEfsnsEU6
ICU in the US is usually used when someone comes out of Major Surgery and needs 24/7 monitoring. There maybe 10 beds and 3 to 5 nurses. Each nurse being responsible for a couple of patients only. The patient may sleep most of the time because they are on a high dose of pain killers. Unless there are complications, the patient is moved to a regular room within a few days. Could be in a day or two and then be transferred to a regular room.
I have not heard of anyone suffering from Mental problems unless its someone suffering from a Dementia or Alzhemiers and thats because they get disoriented because they are in a strange place with strange people. Physically, you are there because of some physical problem. Anyone in the US knows when going in for major surgery that they will probably be in ICU for a certain length of time.
Here in the US any physical therapy given is usually done in a rehab facility. Therapy is rarely done at the Hospital level unless a large hospital. So that means the person needs to get their strength back so are sent to rehab. They are at that facility until the therapist feels they have gone as far as they can go. Someone would more likely suffer mentally having a long Hospital stay or Rehab stay. They tend to be dreary places with not much to do.
A few other thoughts:
1. Apparently you want to focus on "young adults". Although some who post here are in that range, most of us are older, so application to our targeted range might come from parents of young adults, and not necessarily us as caregivers.
2. You might want to consider expanding the time framework from just 12 months to a few years; you would probably get more response with that. Some of us have been involved in caregiving for long periods of time, i.e., several years.
3. In my experience the coping ability can evolve or devolve over a period of time, improving or not. That might give you a better perspective on coping and adaptation of young adults.
4. I'm not familiar with medical practices in the Netherlands, as well as the range of ICU treatments. My ICU experiences were for complex medical issues; psychology or psychiatry and related complications weren't the focus.
I only sought only psychological help once, and never went back b/c of the cost as well as the fact that I thought the seriousness of my concerns weren't being sufficiently evaluated. Instead, I called a friend who was a medical professional and got better advice from her.
I honestly don't know if mental issues would be treated in ICUs in US hospitals. Hopefully someone else has more insight into that issue. But the ICU only setting might limit your responses.
Otherwise, I think this sounds like a very worthy, well thought out, and certainly relevant study, and I wish you success in your efforts.