Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39815198›Full record

Trial reportBMC primary care2025

Patient perspectives on stress after ICU and a short primary care based psychological intervention - results from a qualitative sub‑study of the PICTURE trial.

Antina Beutel, Linda Sanftenberg, Chris M Friemel, Robert Philipp Kosilek, Maggie Schauer, Thomas Elbert, Ulf-Dietrich Reips, Tomke Schubert, Sabine Gehrke-Beck, Konrad Schmidt and 2 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC primary care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03315390 (PTSD After ICU Survival - Caring for Patients With Traumatic Stress Sequelae Following Intensive Medical Care - a Multi-Center, Observer-blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial With a Psychological Intervention), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT03315390 nacompletednot on this map

PTSD After ICU Survival - Caring for Patients With Traumatic Stress Sequelae Following Intensive Medical Care - a Multi-Center, Observer-blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial With a Psychological Intervention

TypeinterventionalSponsorLudwig-Maximilians - University of MunichRan2018 to 2024Enrolled319ConditionsStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticArms"Narrative Exposure Therapy"-oriented intervention, improved treatment as usual (iTAU)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Antina BeutelInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. antina.beutel@med.uni-muenchen.de.
Linda SanftenbergInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Chris M FriemelInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Robert Philipp KosilekInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Maggie SchauerDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Thomas ElbertDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Ulf-Dietrich ReipsDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Tomke SchubertInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Sabine Gehrke-BeckInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Konrad SchmidtInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Jochen GensichenInstitute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. jochen.gensichen@med.uni-muenchen.de.
PICTURE study group

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundApproximately 20-25% of patients who survive medical treatment at an intensive care unit (ICU) develop post-traumatic stress symptoms. There is currently a gap in follow-up care for them. As part of the PICTURE study, general practitioners (GPs) carried out a brief interview-based intervention. The aim of this sub-study is to record the most distressing memories of ICU treatment from the patient's perspective and their evaluation of a GP-based brief psychological intervention.

methodsParticipants were recruited from the intervention group of the main PICTURE study using selective sampling. All of them had experienced an ICU stay with mechanical ventilation and severe organ failure in the previous two years. They were interviewed about their experience of psychological stress during their ICU stay and their retrospective evaluation of the intervention. Semi-structured, guideline-based telephone interviews were conducted for this purpose, processed, and analyzed using the structuring qualitative content analysis based on Mayring.

findingsWhen asked N = 8 patients about the most stressful memory of their stay at ICU, the main themes were helplessness, pain, fixation, inability to communicate and sleep disturbances. The question of amnesia regarding the stay in the ICU was answered affirmatively by half of the interviewees but was not experienced as stressful. The brief trauma-focused intervention carried out by their GPs was well received by all respondents.

conclusionsThe interviewees confirm that aversive traumatizing experiences are often associated with intensive care treatment and reinforce each other. These are due to the treatment setting but should be reduced wherever possible. In view of chronification and the lack of specific follow-up treatment options for these patients and the long waiting times for psychotherapy, the implementation of low-threshold treatment options by GPs appears to be ideally suited to closing this gap in care, particularly for patients with mild to moderate symptoms of a post-traumatic stress disorder.

trial registrationThe main trial was registered at ClinTrials gov (NCT03315390) and at the German Register of Clinical Trials (DRKS, DRKS00012589) on 17/10/2017.

Indexed as

Intensive Care UnitsPsychotherapy, BriefStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticStress, PsychologicalAdultAgedFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMaleMiddle AgedPrimary Health CareQualitative ResearchMental healthNarrative Exposure TherapyPICSPost-intensive care syndromePost-traumatic stress disorderQualitative analysisStressful memories

Identifiers

PMID39815198
PMCPMC11734548

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.