Perceptions of Families of Patients Affected with Coma in Intensive Care Units: A Qualitative Study

Background: There are specific challenges regarding the perceptions of families of patients affected with coma in intensive care units. Identification of these perceptions may attract the cooperation of families with nurses and provide better care for patients. This study aims to explore the perceptions of families of patients affected with coma in intensive care units. Methods: It was a qualitative content analysis study. Seventeen families who had patients affected with coma were recruited by purposive sampling. The data were generated by semi-structured interviews, continued until data saturation and concurrently analyzed by an inductive content analysis method.   Results: Four main categories were manifested including "shock and disbelief", "effort for adaptation", "tiredness and being worn-out "and" hope and support ". Conclusion: The results of this study showed the importance of nurses chr('39')awareness of family memberschr('39') perceptions of their comatose patient status in intensive care units. The findings reflect the need for nurses to pay attention to the feelings and emotions of the families of these patients.