Ability to Cope and Adaptin Relatives of Adult Patients Hospitalized at an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Objective: The study identifies the ability of relatives of adult patients in the intensive care unit at Clínica Universidad de La Sabana,in Chía, Colombia, to cope and adapt. Materials and methods: This was a quantitative descriptive research initiative developed duringthe second half of 2010. It included 61 family members. Callista Roy’s Coping and Adaptation Process Scale was used to collect the data,which was analyzed with measures of central tendency and Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests. The age of the participantsranged from 18 to 65 years, with the majority being females (67.2 %) as opposed to male (32.8 %). Results: In terms of the capacity tocope and adapt, 85.2 % scored high and 14.8 % scored low. It was found that, within a range of strategies for coping and adapting, thoseused most frequently by family members were the physical and focused factor (factor 2, associated with a limited ability to cope), and therecursive and centered factors combined (factors 1 and 3, associated with a high ability to cope). Conclusions: The coping strategies usedby family members were aimed at solving the problem and were distinguished by dealing with the situation from the beginning, planningactivities to change behavior, and pursuing specific objectives that contribute to a solution.