Effectiveness of a Stress Management Training Program in Reducing Caregiver Burden and Perceived Stress Among Families of Long-Stay ICU Patients

Admission to intensive care unit (ICU) is a very stressful event to the patient and his family members. Family caregivers of critically ill patients are confronted with constant uncertainty, fear of negative outcomes of care, unfamiliar environments, and a minimal participation in care, which makes them extremely vulnerable to developing psychological distress (Checa-Checa et al., 2025). This distress is often made worse when going through long serving time in ICU, especially when the patients are not able to communicate and be taken part in the decision-making process.

Family caregivers play a central role during the ICU hospitalization in terms of offering emotional support, attending the decision-making process, and offering a constant presence at the bedside. These responsibilities are often associated with neglect of the physical as well as psychological requirements of the caregivers. Evidence from hospital and critical care settings suggests that caregivers are exposed to high levels of stress and of emotional exhaustion, sleep disturbances and disruption to daily functioning (Abuatiq et al., 2020; McIlvennan et al., 2021). Over time these stressors may yield caregiver burden (a multidimensional phenomenon which may involve physical, emotional, social and psychological strains).

High levels of caregiver burden and perceived stress have been documented among multiple different populations of caregivers, including caregivers of patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. Studies involving either family caregivers of patients undergoing hemodialysis, living with heart failure or recovering from stroke all report moderate to severe caregiver burden with high levels of perceived stress and negative emotions outcomes (Shaykh et al., 2023; Khouban-Shargh et al., 2024; Liu et al., 2025). These findings have a very relevant application in ICU, where the level of care, uncertainty about prognosis and very long stay cause further jeopardy among caregivers.

Perceived stress represents people's appreciation of situations as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overwhelming. Among caregivers in the family setting, the high perceived stress levels have been linked to poor preparedness for caregiving positions, emotional stress, and lessened ability to cope (McIlvennan et al., 2021). Stressors like awaiting results of test results, fearing patient deterioration, sleep deprivation, monetary concerns, and lack of information access are common in ICU and hospital settings (Abuatiq et al, 2020; Krampe et al, 2021) according to caregivers.

Stress management interventions attempt to increase adaptive coping by increasing the ability to manage stress through better awareness of stress, the way we think about things, the way we manage emotions, and how well we are able to solve problems. Evidence from caring populations suggest that the implementation of structured stress management training programs was able to lower the burden on caregivers and perceived stress and also increase psychological well-being (Shaykh et al., 2023; Liu et al., 2025). In the critical care, interventions led by nurses and psychosocial healthcare have been linked to lessened psychological distress and better emotional outcomes among family members (Checa-Checa et al., 2025; Watland et al., 2025). However, many of the ICU interventions focus mainly on information provision and decision-making support, and may not place much emphasis on structured stress management training.