[A new German Scale for Assessing Parental Stress after Preterm Birth (PSS:NICU_German/2-scales)]

Background Preterm birth is known to be a stressful and anxious situation for parents, which might have long-term impact on the psychological health of mothers and even on the development of their preterm infants. Objective The Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS:NICU) was developed to assess parental stress after preterm birth through three subscales [1]. The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties and the dimensionality of the German version of the PSS:NICU to develop a reliable German version of the PSS:NICU. Methods For the development (exploratory factor analysis) 100 parents of preterm infants answered the questionnaire. Results The Sights and Sounds subscale was removed from the German version of the PSS:NICU due to low number of items.

NICU_German/2-scales was developed consisting of 2 subscales: Infant Behavior and Appearance (7 Items, Cronbach's α=0,82) and Parental Role Alteration (6 Items, Cronbach's α=0,87). Conclusions The PSS:NICU_German/2-scales is a reliable and economic scale for the assessment of parental stress after preterm birth.