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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Teenagers represent a small proportion of patients on paediatric intensive care units (PICU) in the United Kingdom. During a time when their development is rapidly changing, an admission to PICU causes additional disruption. The impact of critical illness on psychological health after discharge has not been widely reported within this population.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To measure anxiety that teenagers report 48-96 hours and 4 weeks after discharge from PICU. To explore teenagers' experiences of being admitted onto PICU.

DESIGN: Two-phase mixed methods, explanatory sequential design.

METHODS: This single-site study was conducted between February and July 2018. An NHS Ethics committee approved the study. Teenagers were screened if they were aged 13-18 years old and had an elective or emergency admission to PICU for longer than 24 hours. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Anxiety subscale (HADS-A) was administered on paper and completed with the researcher present. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in-person and over the telephone, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Nine of eighteen participants (50%) obtained scores indicating levels of anxiety which were mild (n = 3; 17%), moderate (n = 2; 11%), or severe (n = 4; 22%) 48-96 hours after PICU discharge. Four weeks later, all participants scored below the clinically significant cut-off level for the HADS-A-1 Teenagers described their experiences on PICU within three themes: Memories of treatments, side effects, and the PICU environment Losing a sense of self Feeling cared for

CONCLUSIONS: Measured levels of anxiety had resolved in this small sample, 4 weeks after PICU discharge. This finding was not consistent with qualitative data that indicated that many experiences shared by participants were anxiety provoking.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Support for teenagers after PICU discharge should be available to meet individual needs; screening teenagers to identify support needs would be beneficial.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 British Association of Critical Care Nurses. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bichard, E., Wray, J. and Aitken, L. M. (2021). Discharged from paediatric intensive care: A mixed methods study of teenager's anxiety levels and experiences after paediatric intensive care unit discharge.. Nursing in Critical Care, which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/nicc.12703. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Publisher Keywords:	adolescent, anxiety, experiences, paediatric intensive care, teenager
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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