Development of a family intervention for delerium in critical care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study to explore family members' knowledge and opinions about ICU delirium and the development of a care package.
IRAS ID
221787
Contact name
Huw Twamley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
The qualitative, focus-group study aims to gain insight into what family members of former critical care patients understood about ICU delirium and what they think future family members may want to know. This is to support them in understanding the condition and assisting with a patient's episodes of delirium. The intended use of the information is to help design a care package for family members of future patients on the unit to allow them to be more involved in the management of the condition. Family members of former patients will be identified by a member of the direct care team from a register of follow-up clinic patients and sent a letter to inform and a participant information sheet which will give more detail about the study. Family members who attend the critical care support group, held monthly, will also be made aware of the study and invited to take the participant information sheet to read should they wish. Participants will attend a focus group interview at which there will be an informal group discussion about their understanding of delirium when they were visiting a patient in the critical care. The discussion will also aim to identify what family members would like to know and how they would like to be supported in assisting the care team looking after patients with delirium. Participants will also be invited, if possible, to attend a three hour workshop with critical care staff to develop a care package to support families in assisting the care team in managing delirium. The information from the focus group discussions will be collected in an anonymised format and analysed using thematic analysis. The results of the focus groups and the workshops will be disseminated through forums within the hospital Trust and the wider critical care arena.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0685
Date of REC Opinion
12 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion