When Distance is an Act of Love: Exploring the Use of Video Diaries for Family Members of Intensive Care Patients

Due to Covid-19, intensive care (ICU) patients are not allowed visitors or have severely restricted visiting. After being admitted to ICU most patients are unconscious or extremely weak and therefore cannot speak on a phone or video call to a family member. Before these visiting restrictions, family members of patients admitted to ICU as a result of being critically ill were already known to suffer significant psychological distress and may now face increased distress given they are unable to visit a loved one.

Previous research demonstrates that keeping a paper diary has been found to be helpful for ICU patients and families. When lockdown measures were announced, NHS Scotland introduced video diaries as an emergency measure to try to support communication with families and reduce distress. vCreate is an NHS Trusted secure video messaging service that helps patients, families and clinical teams stay connected throughout their care journey. The use of video diaries may have a positive impact for family members but there is a risk that they could also have negative effects for some people. There is a need to explore both ICU healthcare professionals and family members' experiences of using video diaries. At the same time it is also important to test the feasibility and acceptability of measures of distress and psychological well-being on family members during and after their experience of video diaries. In doing so, some initial recommendations about video diaries can be made and a larger subsequent study planned to test their effect on family members and healthcare professionals.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Anxiety Depression; Coronavirus

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 28

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sheila Rodgers, PhD; Phone Number: 0131650100; Email: v1srodg3@ed.ac.uk
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Eddie Donaghy, PhD; Phone Number: 07766 772645; Email: Eddie.donaghy@ed.ac.uk

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Lothian
    • Edinburgh, Lothian, United Kingdom, EH8 9AG
      • Recruiting
      • University of Edinburgh
      • Contact: Sheila Rodgers, PhD; Phone Number: +44131650100; Email: v1srodg3@ed.ac.uk
      • Contact: Eddie Donaghy, PhD; Phone Number: +447766772645; Email: Eddie.donaghy@ed.ac.uk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

We aim to recruit up to 20 family members who were involved with using video diaries and up to 8 healthcare professionals who supported family members of ICU patients through video diaries. We will recruit family members and healthcare professionals from two of NHS Lothian's ICU's.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- (i) Family Members in Lothian aged ≥16 years receiving a video diary for an ICU patient who stays in ICU for ≥24 hours or more. If the patient dies, family members will be invited to continue in the study.

(ii) ICU healthcare staff in NHS Lothian who have experience of using the video diary to support family members during lockdown.

Exclusion Criteria:

Prisoners Family members lacking capacity to consent Family members aged under 16 years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Healthcare professionals; No intervention. Gathering data on their experiences of using video diaries.
Family members of ICU patients; No intervention. Gathering data on their experiences of using video diaries.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Qualitative experiences	The principal aim of this study is to explore the experiences of family members and healthcare professionals in using video diaries during the lockdown and no/very restricted hospital visiting.	3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
WEMWBS	(Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale) is a tool that measures psychological well-being.	3 months
CORE-OM	CORE-OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure) is a self report of a non-proprietary, pan-theoretical (not allied to any particular modality) measure of global psychological distress.	3 months
Daily Distress Thermometer	The Daily Distress thermometer is an adaptation of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer and Problem list.	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Edinburgh
• Collaborators: NHS Lothian; University of Hertfordshire

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gazzato A, Scquizzato T, Imbriaco G, Negro A, Caballo Garrido MC, Landoni G, Zangrillo A, Borghi G. The Effect of Intensive Care Unit Diaries on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Dimens Crit Care Nurs. 2022 Sep-Oct 01;41(5):256-263. doi: 10.1097/DCC.0000000000000539.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 26, 2021
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): April 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Anticipated): June 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 25, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 28, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): May 3, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 3, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 28, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Depression; Coronavirus Infections
• Other Study ID Numbers: CAHSS2010/07

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No