1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this study was to describe pain behaviors as perceived by family caregivers of critically ill TBI [traumatic brain injury] patients with an altered LOC [level of consciousness] in the ICU [intensive care unit].» (p. 203)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«This study aimed to answer the following research question: What behaviors are deemed relevant to pain by family caregivers during the hospital stay of nonverbal TBI patients with an altered level of consciousness in the intensive care unit?» (p. 204)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon est composé de 7 proches aidants d’une personne admise dans un hôpital montréalais à la suite d’un traumatisme craniocérébral.

Instruments :
- Guide d’entretien semi-directif
- Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Family caregivers were able to describe several behaviors performed by their critically ill relatives that they observed and considered relevant to pain. […] The most commonly listed patient pain behaviors by family caregivers could be sorted into three broad categories: facial expressions, body movements, and muscle tension. […] Many of the specific behaviors that family caregivers were able to describe in detail correspond to behaviors described elsewhere in the critical care literature on pain (e.g., frowning/brow lowering or reaching for pain site […]. It appears that family caregivers’ observations may be appropriate and pertinent because they overlap with some behaviors that ICU nurses observe. This is not surprising considering the recent work that has found that family members are fairly accurate proxy reporters of patient symptoms in the ICU […], providing ratings of pain more consistent to patient report than even doctors or nurses. […] Most importantly, family caregivers also describe some of the ‘‘atypical’’ pain behaviors that TBI patients exhibit that are not classically observed in other ICU populations. For example, they noted that TBI patients displayed eye weeping, limb flexion, and face flushing in association with painful stimuli, some of the same behaviors that were detected by trained observers in two recent studies of TBI patients in the ICU by our group […].» (p. 210-211)