Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
19:15

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

Published on: August 25, 2014

Factors Associated With Anxiety-Depressive Symptoms, Experience, and Satisfaction Among Families in Neonatology: A

Isabel Cuéllar-Flores1, Gloria Alonso-Toribio2, María José Rodríguez Castaño1

  • 1Department of Neonatology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

SAGE Open Nursing
|July 25, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Parental experience in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) significantly affects family well-being. High satisfaction with the healthcare team can reduce parental anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal care
  • Parental mental health
  • Healthcare quality

Background:

  • Parental experience in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is crucial for family satisfaction and emotional well-being.
  • Understanding factors influencing parental mental health in the NICU is essential for improving care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore associations between parental NICU experience, sociodemographic/hospitalization factors, and anxiety-depressive symptoms.
  • To identify key elements of parental experience that impact emotional outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study of 84 parents with NICU-admitted infants.
  • Utilized parental experience (EMPATHIC-N), satisfaction, and anxiety-depressive symptoms (PHQ-4) measures.
  • Employed descriptive statistics, group comparisons, correlations, and mediation modeling.

Main Results:

  • High willingness to recommend the NICU (79.5%) and high satisfaction with healthcare professionals (8.3/10).
  • 24.4% of parents experienced anxiety-depressive symptoms, inversely correlated with satisfaction.
  • Healthcare team satisfaction mediated 70% of the effect of parental experience on anxiety-depressive symptoms.

Conclusions:

  • Satisfaction with the healthcare team is central to mitigating parental emotional distress post-NICU.
  • Improving care initiatives focused on enhancing healthcare team satisfaction can reduce parental anxiety and depression.
Abstract

Keywords:
anxiety symptomsdepressive symptomsfamily experienceneonatologypatient’s satisfaction

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