Family participation during physical activity in the intensive care unit: A longitudinal qualitative study

Purpose: Family-centered care has been implemented in the ICU to meet relatives' needs concerning information, support, participation , shared decision making. This study explores the needs, beliefs, feelings and behaviors of relatives of patients admitted to the ICU regarding participation during physical activity. Methods: Longitudinal qualitative study design following a grounded theory approach. Relatives were interviewed at 4, 8 and 12 days after the patient's ICU-admission. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results: Twenty-five interviews were conducted in ten relatives. Relatives believed that physical activity in the ICU improves recovery. Participating in physical activity decreased their feelings of powerlessness and useless-ness. Relatives mentioned that they would be stimulated to participate if they were invited, guided and informed by healthcare providers. The perceived reticence of healthcare providers, patient's health-changing capacity and the inability to communicate led to a more passive attitude towards participation. Conclusions: The conceptual model shows how family participation during physical activity changes from a pas-sive role, with negative beliefs and feelings of uselessness and powerlessness, to a more proactive participatory role. Relatives felt more useful and like they were part of the team. Providing relatives with additional informa-tion might be a viable strategy to help and stimulate participation. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).