Stress and feelings in mothers and fathers in NICU: identifying risk factors for early interventions

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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale

Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale

Published on: August 25, 2014

Chiara Ionio¹, Eleonora Mascheroni¹, Caterina Colombo²

¹CRIdee, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy.

Primary Health Care Research & Development

|August 18, 2020

Insights

Parental stress after premature birth differs between mothers and fathers. Identifying at-risk parents in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can guide targeted support to reduce negative feelings.

Area of Science:

Perinatal mental health
Neonatal care outcomes
Parental well-being

Background:

Preterm birth presents significant medical and neurophysiological risks for infants.
It can negatively impact marital dynamics and parent-child bonding.
The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment is inherently stressful for parents.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate parental stress and negative emotions following premature birth.
To identify risk factors contributing to parental stress during NICU stays.
To differentiate between maternal and paternal experiences of stress and negative feelings.

Main Methods:

Study included 43 mothers and 38 fathers of preterm infants.
Participants completed the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The Profile of Mood States questionnaire was also administered.

Main Results:

Significant differences observed in mothers' and fathers' stress and negative feelings.
Maternal stress linked to young maternal age and infant respiratory support needs.
Paternal stress associated with young paternal age, lower gestational age, and infant condition at birth.

Conclusions:

The NICU environment poses significant stress for both mothers and fathers.
Early identification of at-risk parents is crucial for timely intervention.
Targeted interventions can mitigate parental stress and prevent negative emotional outcomes.

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Abstract

Aims:

The aims of this study were to explore parents' stress levels and negative feelings after premature births and to identify the risk factors related to parents' stress and negative feelings during their children's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay.

Background:

Preterm birth is a multi-problematic event that may put the babies in danger for both their medical and neurophysiological conditions and could have a negative impact on both the mother-father relationship and the parent-child interactions.

Methods:

The study involved 43 mothers and 38 fathers of preterm infants. All participants filled out the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Profile of Mood States.

Findings:

The results revealed significant differences between mothers' and fathers' responses to preterm births in terms of both stress and negative feelings. We found that, for mothers, their own young age and the baby's need for respiratory support were significant predictors of stress; for fathers, their own young age and the baby's lower gestational age and worse condition at birth were significant predictors of stress and negative feelings. The NICU may be a stressful place both for mothers and fathers. Identifying which mothers and fathers are at risk immediately after their children are born could help to direct specific interventions that can reduce these parents' stress and prevent them from negative feelings.

Keywords:

neonatal intensive care unit parental stress parenting prematurity risk factors

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