Which support matters when? Relational functioning and posttraumatic stress in NICU parents

For parents, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is often traumatic as they witness their babies fight for their lives. About 30-40% of parents endorse symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) during or after hospitalisation. Given the importance of relational health for trauma, understanding which relationships may offset risk is key.

We conducted a prospective study to examine whether relational functioning during the NICU was uniquely associated with parental PTS in the NICU and at 1- and 3-month follow-ups.

Individual parents who were partnered (N = 144) of babies in the NICU completed validated measures of PTS and relational functioning (general social support, family support, couple satisfaction, parent-staff interactions). We conducted hierarchical regressions to examine which sources of support (during the NICU) were associated with PTS at each timepoint.

At T1, only general social support uniquely explained variance in PTS (β = -.33, p = .012), while higher couple satisfaction emerged as the unique predictor of lower PTS at T2 (β = -.49, p= <.001) and T3 (β = -.39, p = .003), alongside higher education. Exploratory analyses indicated that greater general support was associated with lower PTS among mothers but not fathers (β = 3.03, p = .039); however, no moderation was observed at T2 nor T3.

Multidimensional social support and couple satisfaction may buffer the effects of NICU trauma on PTS. Relational interventions that leverage general support during the NICU and enhance the quality of the parents' relationship may help to reduce risk for parental PTSD.