Distress and Anxiety in Relatives of Patients in a Quaternary Intensive Care Unit: A Pilot Study to Evaluate Targeted Social Work Interventions

Introduction: Families of critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients experience significant stress, leading to anxiety, acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and complicated grief.Social work (SW) interventions, including counseling, are commonly used to alleviate distress, but their effectiveness remains unclear.Objectives: This pilot study assessed distress and anxiety levels in relatives of ICU patients admitted after traumatic injury and evaluated the impact of SW interventions.Methods: Distress and anxiety were measured using the Subjective Unit Distress Scale (SUDS), a 0-100 subjective distress scale.Interventions included counseling, mediation, conflict resolution, and welfare checks, provided up to twice daily during hospitalization and post-ICU if needed.Results: Twenty relatives participated.Patients had a mean age of 37 (SD = 23) and were mostly men (95%).Respondents had a mean age of 56 (SD = 13) and were predominantly women (75%).The mean APACHE III score was 44.2 (SD = 16).SUDS scores significantly decreased from 82 (SD = 23) to 45 (SD = 32) (p < 0.01).Despite constraints, 65% of participants reported high satisfaction with SW support.Conclusion: A targeted SW intervention effectively reduced distress and anxiety in relatives of trauma patients.Increased SW resources are needed to meet demand and improve service delivery.