Table 3.

Participant approaches for dealing with challenges due to COVID-19 (N = 62).

Challenge type	Approach for dealing with challenge	Representative quote
Communication with the medical team	Typically speaking with the medical team at least once per day	“I received a phone call daily from the doctor, sometimes twice, just depending on what was going on and I was able to call in and the nurse if she was available.”
	Understanding that medical staff is busy/stressed	“[If] it took a little bit for somebody to get back to me, it's because I knew that they were tending to patients who are the priority.”
Communication among family members	Communicating with family by telephone	“My family members usually want an update since they're all worried about my mom. And then when I get an update from the nurse, I call and tell my dad.”
	Communicating with family by group chat/website/email	“We also have a family group chat. And we do a lot of FaceTime or zoom. And that's how we that's how we keep the whole family updated.”
Understanding and tracking medical information	Taking notes to keep track of information	“I always have a notebook and … I normally keep detailed notes, because I have to give it to the family.”
	Family member/friend is in healthcare field who helps to interpret medical information	“One of the people we know is a nurse. she sort of explains if we didn't really understand at the moment.”
	Research information using the internet	“When they said they were going to put my mom on ECMOa. I didn't know what that was so I googled it.”
Distress related to visitor restrictions	Video call with patient was meaningful in absence of being able to visit	“I think that the video [calls] really, really helped me because I felt like my mother could hear us, you know, and then I think that that's what caused her to want to fight and to try to [get] better.”
	Understanding the purpose of visitor restrictions	“But obviously we do understand that right now it's not possible [to visit].”

^aECMO: extracorporeal membrane oxygenation