The psychological experience of children visiting an adult intensive care unit

Purpose

Allowing children to visit their parents in the adult intensive care unit (ICU) remains controversial, particularly in light of the risk of trauma associated with the ICU environment. This study aims to provide new insights into the experience and impact of child visits to adult ICUs.

Methods

Qualitative study involving six ICUs in France. Seven days after the visit, children completed an acute stress scale (CRIES-8) and participated in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were transcribed using Phenomenological Interpretative Analysis. All the results were discussed with a psychodynamic perspective.

Participants

A total of 15 children between the ages of seven and 13 participated in the study.

Results

Of the 15 children, nine experienced acute stress one week after the visit. Qualitative results show that, at the time of the visit, the child arrives in intensive care emotionally scarred by the primary event that led to his or her parent's admission to intensive care. Our findings suggest that children have mixed feelings during the visit, experiencing both desire and relief, as well as anxiety and fear. In addition, children express a need to be accompanied and supported throughout the visit by a parent, healthcare professional or psychologist.

Conclusions

Our study shows the importance of respecting children’s desire to visit adults in intensive care, but only under specific conditions, where their reception and support are adapted and tailored to children and are the result of careful consideration and specific training within ICU teams. In order to understand the children's experience, the support must take into account the impact of the primary event, the children's emotional complexity (both positive and negative emotions) and the need for resource people (healthcare professionals, psychologists, accompanying parents) to be attentive, available and to translate the intensive care environment before, during and after the visit.