A study of psychological crisis intervention with family members of patients who died after emergency admission to hospital

The purpose in this study was to conduct psychological crisis intervention with family members of emergency death patients, and to give suggestions for future clinical work. A total of 167 family members of patients who had died after admission to a hospital emergency department were selected. Their mental health status was evaluated using the Sympton Check List-90 (SCL-90; Derogatis, Rickels, & Rock, 1976) revised by Wang, Wang, and Ma (1999). Intervention was performed in 4 steps: self-introduction, expression of feelings, information to prevent negative feelings, and building up effective support to increase coping capacity through appropriate training. Compared with the national norm for the SCL-90, participants in the study gained significantly higher total and factor scores. Compared with the SCL-90 scores of the control group, the total and somatization, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety factor scores of the intervention group were significantly lower. The 4-step intervention method was effective in improving the mental health of the family members who received this treatment and in lessening stress reactions like somatization, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety.