The comfort perception in the critically ill patient from the Kolcaba theoretical model.

Background: The stay in a critical care unit (CCU) has a serious impact on physical condition causing numerous discomfort factors such as pain or difficulty in communicating. All of these are associated with possible sequelae following discharge from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) named post-ICU syndrome. The Kolcaba Comfort Theory allows, from a holistic approach, to identify care needs from the patient's perspective using instruments such as the General Comfort Questionnaire (GCQ).

Psychometric validation of the Kolcaba General Comfort Questionnaire in critically ill patients.

Background: There is a lack of validated tools to measure comfort in critically ill patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the General Comfort Questionnaire (GCQ) in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

Methodology: A total of 580 patients were recruited, randomising the sample into two homogeneous subgroups of 290 patients for exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, respectively.