The parental psychological distress caused by separation from their critically ill child during the COVID-19 pandemic: A tale of two cities

INTRODUCTION: A child’s critical illness is a stressful event for the entire family, causing significant emotional distress among parents and changes to family functioning. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has abruptly caused modifications in visitation policies of Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in many countries. We hypothesized that caregivers with no or severely restricted access to PICUs would demonstrate increased psychological distress as compared to those who had limitless access (LA) to PICUs. METHODS: Sociodemographic variables, levels of psychological distress, ratings of family functioning, and ability to cope with stressful events were collected with an online survey in a group of caregivers after their child’s hospitalization. Ratings of psychological distress were compared between caregivers with no/severely restricted (NA) and with LA to PICUs. RESULTS: Measures of depression, anxiety, and global severity index (GSI) of psychological distress were significantly higher in NA caregivers as compared to LA. Among demographic characteristics of the sample, only gender influenced the severity of psychological symptoms: women showed an increased score on levels of somatization, depression, anxiety, and GSI. Avoidant coping style positively correlated with measures of depression. Univariate General Linear Model (GLM) analyses of the effects of sex, age, visitation policies of PICUs, and score of avoidant coping strategies on measures of psychological distress confirmed a significant univariate effect of no access to PICUs on parents’ psychopathological scores. CONCLUSION: Restrictions imposed on visitation policies in PICU during the pandemic negatively impacted families’ psychological wellbeing. A balance between the safety of patients, families, and health care professionals and meeting the needs of families is of utmost importance.