Psychological repercussions in family members of hospitalised critical condition patients

Objective: We analysed the influence of certain variables [quality of life (QoL) and passage of time] of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) on other variables (clinical dimensions of personality, family environment, fear of death) of their family members. Method: Fifty-seven family members of ICU patients filled in five questionnaires when the patients stayed in the ICU, and 4 years later, the patients filled in a QoL questionnaire. Results: The following results were obtained: (1) Passage of time has influence on Agitation, Boredom-withdrawal, Psychopathic Deviation, and Psychological Inadequacy, only in family members of patients with good QoL; (2) family members score higher in Hypochondriasis, Suicidal Depression, Agitation, Anxious Depression, Guilt-resentment, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Psychological Inadequacy, and Expression, and lower in Fear of the process of another's dying, when the patient was in ICU than 4 years later; (3) family members of patients with bad QoL 4 years after ICU score higher in Hypochondriasis, Suicidal Depression, Agitation, Schizophrenia, Psychasthenia and Psychological Inadequacy than did the family members of patients with good QoL.