Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 21, 2025
Polar Histogram Visualization of Acute Stress Disorder Scale Scores for Comprehensive Clinical Assessment
Published on: December 6, 2024
Vicarious spiritual distress in intensive care unit healthcare providers: A qualitative study
Jennifer Smiechowski1, Henry Stelfox2, Shane Sinclair3
1Department of Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Foothills Medical Center, North Tower, Room 910, 1403 29th Street NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 2T9, Canada.
Objectives:
To explore the impact of caring for family members experiencing spiritual distress on Intensive Care Unit healthcare providers.
Design:
A qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups between May 2016 and April 2017.
Participants:
Intensive care healthcare providers from nine teaching and three non-teaching units across Alberta, Canada.
Measurements:
Transcribed data were analysed using interpretive description.
Findings:
Forty-two participants variably described experiences of vicarious spiritual distress, along with coping strategies and outcomes related to these experiences. Vicarious spiritual distress was experienced as sorrow/distress, helplessness and preoccupation/rumination. Coping strategies were both adaptive (self-awareness/reflection, reframing/resiliency, team support/debriefing, self-care, accepting limitations) and maladaptive (compartmentalising/distancing, substance use). Lastly, the emotional burden of these experiences resulted in both favourable (satisfaction, appreciation) and unfavourable (moral distress, burnout, hopelessness) outcomes.
Conclusion:
Our findings describe the novel concept of vicarious spiritual distress as experienced by intensive care healthcare providers and highlight the importance of identifying effective ways to support these professionals throughout their careers to prevent unfavorable outcomes and the perpetuation of maladaptive coping strategies. The adaptive coping strategies described in this study may help inform wellness initiatives and resiliency training tailored to intensive care healthcare providers.
More Related Videos
06:04Objective Nociceptive Assessment in Ventilated ICU Patients: A Feasibility Study Using Pupillometry and the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex
Published on: July 4, 2018
10:38Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies
Published on: January 16, 2019
Related Concept Videos
01:27Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
01:27Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's...
01:18Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-II
Physical Therapist
A physical therapist (PT) aims to restore function or prevent additional impairment in a patient following an injury or disease. Massage, heat, cold, water, sonar waves, exercises, and electrical stimulation are some treatments used by PTs to treat...
01:28Acute Coronary Syndrome IV: Interprofessional Care
01:21Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-I
Physicians
The physician's primary responsibility is to diagnose illness and direct the medical or surgical treatment of the condition. The authority to admit patients to a healthcare agency or institution and practice care within that setting is granted to physicians by the healthcare agency or institution...
01:08Obedience