Relationship between negative emotions and perceived support among parents of hospitalized, critically ill children.
Brad E Phillips, Laurie A Theeke, Katie M Sarosi
PMID 33575440WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of critically ill children reported anger, fear, loneliness and low perceived emotional support alongside anxiety and depression.
Younger, single, lower-income parents with less education reported greater loneliness and less support.
Key findings
01Parents reported moderate to high depression, anxiety, anger, fear, somatic fear and loneliness, along with low perceived emotional support.
02Parents aged 25 or younger reported higher loneliness, and parents earning less than $40,000 reported higher loneliness and lower perceived emotional support.
03Higher perceived emotional support was inversely related to fear, depression, anger and loneliness.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample from one PICU, and 78 parents were white, so the findings may not apply to other regions or populations. The sample included 60 women and 20 men, so results may be less stable for fathers. Parents were surveyed at different points during their child's illness, and the study captured only one point in time. Data were self-reported, so responses could be influenced by what parents were willing or able to report. Parents with known mental illness and families of children with Do Not Resuscitate status, chronic problems or planned procedures were excluded, so the most distressed groups may be missing. The study did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that reducing loneliness or increasing support improves parental mental health. Recruitment took 12 months instead of the planned 120 days, which may affect how similar PICU research can be conducted.
Declared interests
Funded by the West Virginia University School of Nursing Research Investment Fund. Authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing loneliness or increasing perceived emotional support will improve parents' depression, anxiety or fear. This was a one-time survey of parents, not a trial of an intervention.