Psychological distress in critically ill patients: Risk and protective factors

Keywords: Critically ill patients; psychological distress; risk factors; protective factors. Introduction Advances in technology and critical care medicine make the intensive care unit (ICU) one of the most sophisticated areas in the hospital (Backes, Erdmann, & Büscher, 2015; Wikström, 2003). The aim of this study is to analyse the psychological distress of ICU patients during the period of admission to the ICU in terms of anxiety, depression, subjective perception and stress, as well as to identify potential risk and protective factors for psychological distress. Procedure After the approval by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital and in order to identify a priori those critical patients that may participate in the study, a psychologist of the research team attended ICU clinical sessions daily.