Family members' beliefs and attitudes towards visiting policy in the intensive care units of Ghana

AIM: This study aimed to investigate family members' beliefs and attitudes towards the visiting policies of intensive care units (ICUs). DESIGN: It employed a descriptive cross‐sectional quantitative design. METHOD: This study recruited four public hospitals in Ghana with a sample of 200 family members. The study was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire. The data were collected and analysed with SPSS version 16. RESULTS: This study revealed that while family members believed in the beneficial effect of adhering to open visiting policies in ICUs, their attitudes were sceptical and restrictive. Most family members preferred the acceptable number of visitors within 24 hr to be two, and according to them, only one person should be allowed to enter at a time. There was a meaningful relationship between the families' beliefs and religion (p = 0.02), educational level (p = 0.03) and family status (p = 0.02). Furthermore, a meaningful relationship was also observed between the families' attitudes and status (p = 0.04) and their level of education (p = 0.05). The studied family members showed concern in this regard and did not want the community style of visiting to be implemented, which could hinder patients' recovery.