Coping strategies and social support in adults patients at intensive care unit
Intensive Care Unit; Coping; Social Support; Adults
The Intensive Care Unit is a specialized hospital sector whose primary objective recover or provide support to the vital functions of patients as they recover. The disease process can trigger the individual a crisis situation. This crisis may occur in a short period of psychological imbalance when faced with a stressful circumstance, which can not run away or settle with the usual resources for troubleshooting. Thus, it is possible that a requirement both by the patient and their families, demanding ways of facing a situation. In addition to coping strategies, it is important to consider the influence of social support in patients who are hospitalized in that unit. Investigate the perceived social support and coping strategies used by adult patients in the Intensive Care Unit. It is a quantitative study, cross-sectional and correlational. A total of 126 patients participated in the study (63 in each institution), in the Intensive Care Unit at Hospital Monsignor Walfredo Gurgel and University Hospital Onofre Lopes. Patients who agree to participate in this study, responded the following instruments: Socio-Demographic Survey (social, demographic and health data); Social Support Scale; Ways of Coping Scale. The results showed that adult patients hospitalized in the ICU tended to use higher strategies focused on religious / fantasy thoughts, as well they having a perception of above-average social support, emphasizing in the dimension of affective support as the highest score obtained by the individuals. Considering the instruments that we used in this research, a positive relationship was observed between WCS factors and as well the same positive relationship among WCS factors and social support dimensions was demonstrated. Thusly, it highlights the problem-focused strategy as the most related to the perception of social support between individuals. In the data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using a data processing software. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the coping strategies in the recovery process of patients in the ICUs, as well as the direct influence of social support.