Social workers' perspectives on the psychosocial needs of families during critical illness.

This article reports the needs of relatives whose family member is unexpectedly admitted to an Intensive Care Unit. The Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) was used to measure and rank a series of need statements by family members (n = 25) and social workers (n = 42). Comparative analysis reveals that there were need statements that showed a significant difference in mean scores. Minor differences in both the rank order of individual need statements and the five-factor analysis categories were found. Implications for clinical social work practice are discussed.