ArticleHeart & lung : the journal of critical care
Preliminary efficacy of the vidatalk
Article in Heart & lung : the journal of critical care. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of digital communication tools on patients, family members and health care professionals in adult ICUs: a mixed-methods systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2026Pooled it
- The Effects of Digital Health Interventions for Family Members in Intensive Care Units: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Review
- A Multicomponent Communication Intervention to Reduce the Psycho-Emotional Effects of Critical Illness in ICU Patients Related to Their Level of Consciousness: CONECTEM.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFamily caregivers of ICU patients experience difficulty communicating with patients during mechanical ventilation. Little is known about patient-family communication in the ICU and the associated emotional distress.
objectivesTo examine the preliminary effects of the VidaTalk™ communication app on anxiety, depression, and PTSD-related symptoms among family caregivers.
methodsWe conducted a prospective study using repeated measures to compare VidaTalk™ to an attention control condition. Twenty-eight family caregivers of nonvocal adult ICU patients participated in this study. The intervention group received VidaTalk™, whereas the attention control group received a standard tablet loaded with MyChart Bedside (EPIC) and game apps during the patient's mechanical ventilation treatment. Family caregiver anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were measured at baseline, at extubation/ICU discharge, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months post-ICU discharge. PTSD-related symptoms (Impact of Event Scale-revised) were measured at 1-, 3-, and 6-months. T-tests were used for group comparisons for families' perceived communication difficulty, anxiety, and depression, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for PTSD-related symptom comparisons.
resultsNo statistically significant difference was found between groups in changes in family psychological outcomes, the VidaTalk™ was associated with a small to medium improvement in anxiety symptoms (d = 0.43) at one month. The VidaTalk™ group had lower PTSD-related symptoms than the AC group with a medium effect size (ɳ2=0.07) at one month and a medium-to-large effect size (ɳ2=0.09) at three months.
conclusionsThe VidaTalk™ demonstrated potential as a family caregiving intervention that may be associated with reduced family psychological symptoms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.