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Updated: Nov 25, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Parental protective factors and stress in NICU mothers and fathers
Alina Ivashchuk1,2, Ursula Guillen3, Amy Mackley3
1Pediatrics/Neontalogy, ChristianaCare, Newark, DE, USA. aivashchuk@gmail.com.
Objective:
Evaluate the effect of parental protective factors on parental stress at time of NICU admission and prior to discharge.
Study Design:
Parents of infants born at <35 weeks gestation were approached at a single level III NICU. Consenting parents completed a questionnaire on admission and prior to infant's discharge of demographic information and three validated instruments: (1) parental stress (PSS:NICU), (2) Parents' Assessment of Protective Factors (PAPF), and (3) health literacy (PHLAT-8).
Results:
Mean PSS:NICU Total score was 2.8 ± 0.9 (Time 1) and 2.6 ± 1.1 (Time 2). Mean PAPF scores in all subcategories were high (means >3, ±0.3-0.5) (Time 1, Time 2). There was no clinically significant association between PSS:NICU scores and PAPF or any of the other measured variables.
Conclusion:
PAPF and other commonly implicated factors were not associated with perceived self-reported parental stress at time of NICU admission and prior to discharge.
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