Children's thoughts and feelings related to visiting critically ill relatives in an adult ICU: A qualitative study.

To describe and understand children's thoughts and feelings related to visiting critically ill relatives or family members in an adult intensive care unit. A qualitative descriptive study. Twenty-eight children (14 girls; 14 boys) that had visited a critically ill relative or family member in an adult intensive care unit were invited to participate in an interview. The material was analysed inspired by Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy and Doverborg and Pramling Samuelsson's method about interviews and dialogues with children. Children with a seriously ill/injured relative suffer. However, visiting seems to alleviate suffering. Visiting and being present as a part of the situation brought positive feelings of involvement and made it possible to show that they wanted to care for the relative. The sick relative was always on the child's mind and seeing and being with them in the intensive care unit resulted in relief and calmness, even if the relative's situation sometimes evoked feelings of despair and fear. Knowledge and awareness of the fact that children are affected by the relative's condition and for their wellbeing needs to visit, caring actions must focus on helping the child become involved in the relative's situation in order to alleviate suffering.

Knutsson S ，Bergbom I 《-》

Children's experiences of visiting a seriously ill/injured relative on an adult intensive care unit.

Knutsson S ，Samuelsson IP ，Hellström AL ，Bergbom I ... -  《JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING》

Custodians' viewpoints and experiences from their child's visit to an ill or injured nearest being cared for at an adult intensive care unit.

Knutsson SE ，Bergbom IL 《JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING》

Visits in an intensive care unit--an observational hermeneutic study.

The aim was to interpret the interplay between critically ill patients and their next of kin in an ICU and to disclose a deeper understanding of the visiting situation. A hermeneutic research design with non-participant observation was chosen as the data collection method. Ten observations of 10 patients and 24 loved ones over a 20-h period were conducted. The text describing the observations of the interplay was interpreted in accordance with Gadamer's thoughts. Data were analysed by considering the text as a play with scenes, actors and plots. Due to their medical condition the patients were unable to use their bodies in the usual way, which sends different signals to their loved ones, who in turn have difficulty deciding how to respond. Both parties become, in a manner of speaking, trapped or locked out by their own bodies. The physical environment became a hindrance to the interplay as it was designed for medical and technical use and thus did not promote healing. The professionals are important for interpreting the signals from both patients and next of kin, as well as for finding caring strategies, such as physical contact that promote interplay, which in turn strengthens connectedness.

Eriksson T ，Lindahl B ，Bergbom I 《-》

Children and young people visiting an adult intensive care unit.

Kean S 《-》