Abstract

Background: When an acute illness or trauma occurs, life becomes disorganised and shattered for the critically ill person and his/her family members. The family members are confronted with thoughts about life and death which can cause stress and anxiety. How the family members cope with the crisis is individual and depending on personality and earlier experiences. Aim: The purpose of this literary review was to illustrate the family members´ experiences when dealing with a critically ill family member. Method: A literary review was made based on fifteen qualitative and quantitative scientific articles and a literary book. Findings: The analysis of the articles resulted in two main categories; security and insecurity. Information, involvement and wellbeing were the three subcategories which together lead to family members´ feeling of security. The feeling of insecurity was caused by negative experiences such as a lack of information, exclusion and discomfort. Conclusion: Nurses need to improve their knowledge and understanding in order to guide and support family members dealing with a life crisis. The result of the literary review made it apparent that all hospital personal are important for family members to feel security. The nurse however is a key employee of the hospital staff in order to offer a holistic family nursing.