Tele-based Psychological Emotional Support for Informal CARegivers of COVID-19 Patients in Intensive Care

The intervention consists of two (or one, if preferred by caregivers) weekly tele-sessions during the ICU stay, lasting up to 30 minutes, and two sessions in the month after discharge from or death in the ICU. Sessions will be conducted via phone-calls or video-conferencing. Therapists will 1) validate caregivers' subjective experience, 2) normalize and psychoeducate about emotional reactions, and 3) offer emotion regulation drawing on contemporary cognitive treatment packages of decentering, acceptance and emotion tolerance. Sessions for bereaved caregivers will include psycho-education about grief, assessment of risk for adverse outcomes and information about available support, if needed. The intervention will be performed based on an intervention manual. The content of the intervention will be continually adapted and tailored to the needs of the participating caregivers by involving all caregivers in co-creating the intervention trough brief post-session interviews.