Effects of ICU diaries on psychological disorders and sleep quality in critically ill patients and their family members: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The psychological health and sleep quality of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and their families have health implications, and greater attention should be devoted to developing effective interventions to address these concerns. Due to an increasing amount of evidence on ICU diary interventions, their comparative effectiveness should be evaluated. Aims: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effect of ICU diaries on psychological disorders and sleep quality in critically ill patients and on psychological disorders in their family members. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Network, Wanfang Database, and Weipu Chinese Journal databases were searched up to November 2023 to identify randomized controlled trials. We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for quality assessment, and we used Review Manager 5.4 software to conduct meta-analysis. Results: Eleven studies with a total of 1682 patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients: PTSD (7 studies, 1015 patients): OR 0.63 (95%CI 0.45-0.87), p = 0.005; Anxiety (6 studies, 546 patients): OR 0.52 (95%CI 0.22-1.27), p = 0.15; Depression (6 studies, 546 patients): OR 0.62 (95%CI 0.39-0.97), p = 0.04; sleep quality (2 studies, 203 patients): OR -3.97 (95%CI -7.71-0.23), p = 0.04. Family members: PTSD (2 studies, 652 patients): OR 0.81 (95%CI 0.37-1.79), p = 0.60; Anxiety (2 studies, 650 family members): OR 1.09 (95%CI 0.79-1.49), p = 0.62; Depression (2 studies, 650 patients): OR 1.03 (95%CI 0.71-1.50), p = 0.87. The pooled results of the metaanalysis showed that ICU diaries reduced the incidence of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and improved sleep quality in patients, but had no significant effects on patients' anxiety status or family members' psychological disorders. Three of the included studies had a high quality, and the remaining eight studies had a moderate quality. Conclusions: For patients, ICU diaries can improve their depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, improve sleep quality, but has no significant effect on anxiety; For family members, ICU diaries were not significant. Due to the existence of bias and the limited sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution. Researchers need to further elucidate the multidisciplinary collaborative process of diary-based treatment in ICUs and its impact on psychological disorders in family members. Furthermore, large-scale, multicentre, robust studies should be conducted in the future.