Implementation of Mindfulness Therapy to Address Anxiety Among Family Members of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Abstract

Family members of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often experience anxiety triggered by the critical condition of their relatives, limited information, and uncertainty about the patient's prognosis. If left unmanaged, this anxiety may reduce the family's ability to support the patient and disturb their own mental well-being. This community engagement activity aimed to improve family members' understanding of anxiety and to introduce mindfulness therapy as a simple, non-pharmacological strategy for managing emotional distress. The activity was carried out on 20 October 2025 in the ICU waiting room of RSUD Ulin Banjarmasin for 30 minutes, using lectures and interactive discussion supported by an X-Banner and leaflets. The material covered the concept of anxiety, mindfulness therapy, its benefits for families, the basic steps of practice, and tips for daily application. Evaluation was conducted through question-and-answer sessions and an observation sheet. The results showed that participants were enthusiastic, actively engaged, and able to answer more than 80% of the evaluation questions correctly, indicating that the educational objectives were achieved. Mindfulness-based health education is therefore considered effective in improving family knowledge and has the potential to serve as a psychological support strategy that is easy to apply in the ICU setting.