Family Attitude of Critically Ill Patients Regarding the Risk of Death in an Intensive Care Unit of a Highly Specialized Medical Center

Introduction: Death has always been, and continues to be, a subject of profound reflection and contemplation for humankind—from philosophical and religious perspectives to, more recently, scientific ones. However, in advanced industrial societies, it is increasingly difficult to live with or accept even the idea of death.
Objective: To determine the attitude of family members of critically ill patients toward the risk of death in the intensive care unit of a high-specialty medical facility.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Intensive Care Unit, including, by convenience sampling, family members of critically ill patients who agreed to participate. A structured Likert-type questionnaire was administered, assessing attitudes toward death, and sociodemographic data were collected. The results were analyzed using frequencies, proportions, measures of central tendency, and dispersion.
Results: A total of 44 family members of critically ill patients participated; 15,9% were men and 84,1% women, with a mean age of 42,7 ± 15,9 years. Approach acceptance was rated as completely favorable; death avoidance, escape acceptance, and neutral acceptance were all favorable; and fear of death was completely favorable. Overall, the attitude was classified as completely favorable.
Conclusions: The attitude of family members of critically ill patients toward the risk of death is favorable. The most strongly endorsed dimensions were approach acceptance, fear of death, and neutral acceptance.

Patients, Critical care, Death, Thanatology

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