Determining the relationship between the anxiety level and social support of patients' relatives in the neurosurgy intensive care unit during the COVID 19 pandemic process

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the anxiety levels and social support of patients' relatives in the neurosurgery intensive care unit during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is a descriptive, relationship-seeking research. The population of the research consists of relatives of patients aged 18 and over who received inpatient treatment at Adana Çukurova University Balcalı Hospital Neurosurgery ICU between 02 May 2022 and 23 July 2023. The sample of the study consists of 250 patient relatives who have been receiving inpatient treatment for 48 hours between the specified dates and meet the inclusion criteria. "Personal Information Form (KBF)" was used to collect research data, "Beck Anxiety Scale" was used to determine the anxiety levels of individuals, and "Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale" was used to evaluate social support levels. In the evaluation of the data, the Shapiro Wilk test was used to determine whether the data of the relatives of the patients in the ICU were in compliance with normal distribution. For data that conforms to normal distribution, mean standard deviation was calculated for descriptive statistics, and median and quartile values were calculated for data that did not comply. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare two groups, and Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare more than two groups. Conover test was used as posthoc test. Cronbach's alpha value was calculated as the internal consistency coefficient in the total and sub-dimensions of the scales. In this study, it was determined that 22.8% of the patient's relatives had minimal anxiety, 15.6% had mild anxiety, 17.2% had moderate anxiety, and 44.4% had severe anxiety. BAI median values were found to be statistically significantly higher in patients' relatives who were female, whose degree of closeness to the patient was a parent or spouse, who had not had a relative in the ICU before, who did not find the visiting hours sufficient, and who did not think they received sufficient information. It was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the patient's relatives' age, education level and the person from whom they received information about the patient and BAÖ. Median values of the MSPSS sub-dimensions and total scores were found to be statistically significantly lower in patients' relatives who were related to the patient as a sibling or spouse, whose education level was high school, who did not find the visiting hours sufficient, and who only received information from the doctor. It has been determined that the significance varies between the state of thinking that one has received sufficient information about the patient and the MSPSS and its sub-dimensions. It was found that there was no significant difference between the patient's relatives' gender, age, and whether a relative had been hospitalized in the ICU before, and the subscales of the MSPSS. In this study, it was determined that there was a negative, low-severity and significant relationship between the MSPSS subscales and total score and the BAI total score. In line with these results; Nurses who provide psychosocial approaches to patients' relatives in the ICU should take into account individuals who experience more anxiety in their interventions, organize training on ways to cope with anxiety, determine what kind of social support they need to reduce their anxiety, introduce easily accessible social support systems around them and use this social support. It is recommended that they organize necessary training on how to benefit from the systems.