ABSTRACT
In this paper an account is given of a research on how parents experience and react to their child's treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of the Academic Medical Centre of Amsterdam. The purpose of this research was to gain insight into how this period influenced parents and to make an inventory of the problems parents were being confronted with. Parents play a fundamental role in supporting their child which is not easy on an ICU because of the unknown and frightening environment. One of the reasons why this kind of study has been done into a descriptive/exploring style is because such research is practically new in the Netherlands. The main results will be described and some recommendations will be made how to improve the quality of the guidance of the parents on an ICU.
