Some patients require immediate hospitalization in the ICU（intensive care unit）. The purpose of the present study was to discuss the feelings of family members of these patients and psychological support they require. The subjects were sixteen family members, who had accompanied the patients from the decision of hospitalization until the time of entering the ICU. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to ask how they felt while they were in the waiting room, and the results were analyzed qualitatively and inductively.
As the results of the analysis, fourteen subcategories were extracted, which were grouped into five larger categories: “shock”, “anxiety”, “relief”, “trust” and “hope”. The feelings of the families between the decision of hospitalization and time of entering the ICU varied depending on the person and changed over time. It is necessary to provide family members with not only information on patients but also psychological support, including information on the ICU and waiting room for families.