Associations between ICU-days and patient experiences and perceptions of clinical research in intensive care units: a mediation analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Clinical research is responsible for high-quality therapy in intensive care units (ICU). Patient experiences and perceptions are an integral part of the clinical research, but little is known about relationship between them. The objective of this study is to describe critically ill patient experiences and perceptions of clinical research in ICU. METHODS: Data were collected from 344 patients from 15 UK ICUs. A total of 344 critically ill patients (ICU-days: 0 day, 36.63%; 1 or more, 63.37%) completed the survey. Significant differences in the patient experiences and perceptions of clinical research in ICU were depicted with t test. The factor structures of patient experiences and perceptions of clinical research in ICU were explored by exploratory structural equation modeling and principal component analysis. Associations between socioeconomic factors and patient experiences and perceptions were explored with logistic regressions. Mediation analyses among patient experiences, patient perceptions, ICU-days, informed participation were performed with structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Most patients were males (56.31%). The factor structures of patient experiences and perceptions of clinical research in ICU were five and four, respectively. There were high proportions of good experiences and poor perceptions in the sample. Significant differences were observed in the patient perceptions of clinical research regarding informed participation in ICU. Patients with informed participation were less likely to have poor patient perceptions than without (OR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.29-0.74). The relationship of ICU-days→informed participation was mediated moderated by age groups and gender. There were no significant mediation and moderation effects among informed participation, patient experiences, and patient perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Our study offers several new insights regarding the role of informed participation in clinical research in patient experiences and perceptions in ICU. In addition, the findings suggest clinical research may benefit from socioeconomic factors of patients. Findings provide a basis for reflection on practice for specialist nurses, research teams, policymakers, and all with an interest in improvement in patient experiences and perceptions.