Mona Ahlberg
Vrinnevisjukhuset, Sweden
Title: Moving on in life after intensive care - partners' experience of group-communication
Biography
Biography: Mona Ahlberg
Abstract
Partners have a burdensome time during and after a partners' intensive care period. They may appear to be coping well outwardly but inside feel vulnerable and lost. Evaluated interventions for partners are limited. The aim of this study was to describe the experience of participating in group- communication with other partners of former intensive care patients. The study has a descriptive intervention based design where group-communication for partners of former, surviving ICU-patients, was evaluated. Two group-communication sessions was held the partners afterwards wrote, in a notebook, about their feelings of participating in group-communications. To deepen the understanding of the impact of the sessions six of the partners were interviewed. Three categories were identified: 1) Emotional impact, the partners felt togetherness and experienced worries and gratitude, 2) Confirmation, consciousness through insight and reflection, 3) Partners of an intensive care patient are on a journey, constantly trying to adapt to the new situation and find new strategies to ever changing circumstances. Group-communications contributed to togetherness and confirmation. To share experiences with others is one way for partners to be able to move forward in life. Relevance to clinical practice: Group-communication with other patients' partners eases the process of going through the burden of being a partner to an intensive care patient. Group-communications needs to be further developed and evaluated, to obtain consensus and evidence for the best practice.