title: Family Presence during Resuscitation: A Qualitative Analysis from a National Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The themes of qualitative assessments that characterize the experience of family members offered the choice of observing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of a loved one have not been formally identified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the context of a multicenter randomized clinical trial offering family members the choice of observing CPR of a patient with sudden cardiac arrest, a qualitative analysis, with a sequential explanatory design, was conducted. The aim of the study was to understand family members' experience during CPR. All participants were interviewed by phone at home three months after cardiac arrest. Saturation was reached after analysis of 30 interviews of a randomly selected sample of 75 family members included in the trial. Four themes were identified: 1- choosing to be actively involved in the resuscitation; 2- communication between the relative and the emergency care team; 3- perception of the reality of the death, promoting acceptance of the loss; 4- experience and reactions of the relatives who did or did not witness the CPR, describing their feelings. Twelve sub-themes further defining these four themes were identified. Transferability of our findings should take into account the country-specific medical system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family presence can help to ameliorate the pain of the death, through the feeling of having helped to support the patient during the passage from life to death and of having participated in this important moment. Our results showed the central role of communication between the family and the emergency care team in facilitating the acceptance of the reality of death.
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|AP-HP, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry, Avicenne Hospital, Paris, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, Laboratoire UTRPP (EA 4403), Inserm 669, France, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Stefano
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry, Avicenne Hospital, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Domitille
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Normand
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|Inserm U970, Centre de Recherche Cardiovasculaire de Paris, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.|AP-HP, Samu de Paris, hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jabre
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, réanimation médicale, hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azoulay
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, réanimation médicale, hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kentish-Barnes
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, EA 3509, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lapostolle
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry, Avicenne Hospital, Paris, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, Laboratoire UTRPP (EA 4403), Inserm 669, France, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baubet
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, EA 3509, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Paul-Georges
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Reuter
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, EA 3509, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Javaud
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Texas Tech University HSC, El Paso, TX, United States of America.
authors.forename: Stephen W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Borron
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Unité de Recherche Clinique, hôpital Fernand Widal, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vicaut
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Urgences, Samu 93, hôpital Avicenne, 93000 Bobigny, France.|Paris 13 Sorbonne University, Paris Cité, EA 3509, 93000 Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Adnet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000523:psychology*; D003643:Death; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy