중환자 가족이 인지하는 간호사 의사소통유형과 중환자 가족 만족도와의 관계

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between family members’ perception of nurses communication styles and family satisfaction. Methods: This study adopted a descriptive correlational design. Participants were 118 family members of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The following data were collected using questionnaires: general characteristics of participant, nurses’ communication styles, and satisfaction of critically ill patients’ family members. Results: The mean±standard deviation scores for informative, affiliative, and authoritative communication styles were 4.33±0.65, 4.06±0.73, and 1.73±0.80, respectively. There were no significant differences as per critically ill patients’ characteristics. However, family members’ satisfaction differed significantly by age. Family satisfaction sub-dimension scores on satisfaction with decision-making (F=3.36, p=.021) and care (F=3.33, p=.022) were significantly higher among family members under 40 than those between 40 and 49 years. Correlation coefficients among major variables were statistically significant (r=-.25 to r=.81), particularly those of nurses’ informative and affiliative communication styles with family satisfaction were higher than moderate. Conclusion: Thus, these results indicate that nurses in ICU should communicate using informative and affiliative styles to improve the satisfaction among family members of critically ill patients. For this purpose, all medical staff, especially, nurses and physicians should be provided with appropriate communication styles practice and continuous education on interaction with family members of ICU patients.