The experience and perceptions of siblings of pediatric intensive care unit patients: A qualitative study

Date

4/26/2021

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Abstract

Over 200,000 patients are admitted into pediatric intensive care units (PICU) annually in North America, exposing families to extreme psychosocial stressors and adverse outcomes. While previous research has shown PICU patients and their parents experience post-traumatic stress disorder, few studies have addressed post-PICU outcomes in siblings and siblings’ voices of their own experience are absent from the literature. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of school aged and adolescent siblings, ages six to 17 years, whose brother or sister experienced admission to a PICU due to a critical illness or injury. Interpretive phenomenology was used to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences and perceptions of the lived experiences of siblings of PICU patients. Seven participants were identified from a list of families whose child was in the PICU at Dell Children’s Medical Center within the past two years and discharged from the hospital for three months or longer. Families were screened for the presence of siblings in the household and for additional inclusion and exclusion criteria before being approached for to participate in the study. Those families meeting criteria received a study information letter and follow up phone call inviting them to participate and providing contact information for the researcher if they wanted to receive further information on the study. Data collection consisted of demographic information to describe the sample and semi-structured interviews to address the research questions. Interviews were conducted either face-to-face prior to the COVID-19 pandemic or by videoconference during the pandemic, and audio recorded and then transcribed word-for-word. Data analysis and interpretation utilized Colaizzi’s methodology and Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception (2012). Four themes emerged from the data: What I Remember; What I Felt; What Helped; and What’s the Same and What’s Different.

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Keywords

PICU, Siblings, Post PICU outcomes, Sibling experience

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