Stress among parents with acutely ill children

A child's admission into intensive care is a major cause of stress for parents. However among Malaysian parents, data concerning the perception of stress are virtually absent. Therefore we conducted a study to measure the reliability of the Malay version of Parental Stressor Scale: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PSS: PICU) in identifying sources of stress and to study factors that might influence their stress response.

Over a six-month period, one hundred and twelve parents were requested to answer the questionnaires twice either in Malay or English, a week apart. Spearman's correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the repeatability and internal consistency of the questionnaires.

Ninety-four (83.9%) and seventy-one (75.3%) parents responded to the first and second administration of questionnaire respectively. All answered in the Malay language except for three. The correlation ranged from 0.50 to 0.71 with a total score of 0.76. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranged from 0.75 to 0.93, with total a score of 0.95. Alteration in parental roles was the most stressful source of stress. Fathers, parents of children with higher PRISM score and parents with no previous admission into intensive care unit scored significantly higher in staffs communication.

The Malay version of PSS: PICU is reliable in identifying sources of stress. Alteration in parental roles was the most stressful source of stress. Parents' gender, previous experience and severity of the child illness may influence their stress responses.