Psychological support for family caregivers of patients in intensive care for COVID-19

Relatives of critically ill patients with COVID-19 who are admitted to an intensive care unit are forced to deal with overwhelming uncertainty and confront the fundamental existential fear of death. Being a relative of a patient in an intensive care unit is already associated with post-traumatic stress and, in those where the patient dies during hospitalization, a prolonged grief reaction. The Corona pandemic in particular is cutting off relatives from using their social support network as usual. Despite this, there is currently no systematic psychosocial support for relatives in COVID-19 intermediate and intensive care units. In this project, we will develop and pilot test a tele-delivered psychological intervention for 50 relatives of patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit at Rigshospitalet and Skejby Hospital. Weekly conversations with specially trained psychologists should support the relatives in dealing with the great emotional strain and reduce their risk of post-traumatic stress and prolonged grief. The intervention is composed of elements from existing psychological interventions tested by our research group and is developed based on feedback from relatives in the pilot project. If the pilot project proves promising, we will test the effect of the intervention in a randomized trial in the second wave of the pandemic, which is expected in the autumn.