Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jul 3;24(1):486.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05883-0.

Psychological resilience in the relationship between family function and illness uncertainty among family members of trauma patients in the intensive care unit

Peilin Yu #  1 , Wanzhu Zhang #  1 , Shijie Li  2 , Xuan Luo  2 , Hao Chen  2 , Jie Mi  3   4
Affiliations

Psychological resilience in the relationship between family function and illness uncertainty among family members of trauma patients in the intensive care unit

Peilin Yu et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Severe trauma accounts for a main factor inducing mortality for individuals aged < 45 years in China, which requires admission to intensive care unit (ICU) to receive comprehensive treatment. Family members of patients with unanticipated and life-threatening trauma during their ICU stays often experience psychosocial distress due to illness uncertainty. Previous research has shown that family function and psychological resilience are associated with illness uncertainty, respectively. However, little is known about the current situation and interacting mechanism between family function, psychological resilience, and illness uncertainty of family members for ICU trauma patients. Therefore, this study focused on exploring the current situation and relationships between these three factors in family members for ICU trauma patients.

Methods: The convenience sampling approach was adopted in the present cross-sectional survey, which involved 230 family members for ICU trauma patients from 34 hospitals in Chongqing, China. Related data were extracted with self-reporting questionnaires, which included sociodemographic characteristic questionnaire, the Family Adaptability, Partnership, Growth, Affection and Resolve Scale (APGAR), the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (10-CD-RISC) and the Mishel's Illness Uncertainty Scale for Family Members (MUIS-FM). Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the correlations between various variables. Additionally, a structural equation model was adopted to assess the mediating effect of psychological resilience on family function and illness uncertainty.

Results: According to our results, family members for ICU trauma patients experienced high illness uncertainty with moderate family dysfunction and low psychological resilience. Family function directly affected illness uncertainty and indirectly affected illness uncertainty through psychological resilience in family members of ICU trauma patients.

Conclusions: Family function and psychological resilience are the protective factors for reducing illness uncertainty. Healthcare providers should take effective measures, including family-functioning improvement and resilience-focused interventions, for alleviating illness uncertainty in family members of ICU trauma patients.

Keywords: Family function; Family members; ICU; Illness uncertainty; Psychological resilience; Trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The theoretical model and hypothesis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Psychological resilience playing a mediating role in family function and illness uncertainty
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rossaint R, Afshari A, Bouillon B, Cerny V, Cimpoesu D, Curry N, et al. The European guideline on management of major bleeding and coagulopathy following trauma: sixth edition. Crit Care. 2023;27(1):80. doi: 10.1186/s13054-023-04327-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Soni KD, Bansal V, Arora H, Verma S, Warnberg MG, Roy N. The state of global trauma and Acute Care Surgery/Surgical critical care. Crit Care Clin. 2022;38(4):695–706. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2022.06.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhang LY, Zhang XZ, Bai XJ, Zhang M, Zhao XG, Xu YA, et al. Current trauma care system and trauma care training in China. Chin J Traumatol. 2018;21(2):73–6. doi: 10.1016/j.cjtee.2017.07.005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu T, Bai XJ. Trauma care system in China. Chin J Traumatol. 2018;21(2):80–3. doi: 10.1016/j.cjtee.2017.06.004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xie L, Feng M, Cheng J, Huang S. Developing a core competency training curriculum system for emergency trauma nurses in China: a modified Delphi method study. BMJ Open. 2023;13(5):e066540. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066540. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources