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Journal writing as a social support strategy for parents of premature infants: a pilot study
A J Macnab1, L Y Beckett, C C Park
1British Columbia's Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. amacnab@wpog.childhosp.bc.ca
Background:
Having a premature baby is acknowledged to be stressful to parents. Journal writing combines practical, emotional and informational support that may be useful to these parents.
Methods:
We conducted a study to assess the potential for promoting journal-writing for parents receiving social support in a special care nursery (SCN). Parents were provided with educational material on journal writing, and subsequently surveyed concerning their journal-writing during their child's hospitalization.
Results:
Of the 73 parents enrolled, 32% kept a journal; of these, 73% felt it helped considerably in reducing stress, and 68% used it as a means of addressing the most stressful elements of their nursery experience. Journals were used primarily to document involvement in care (45%), record-keeping (36%), and organization of thoughts (27%). All of those who kept a journal recommended it for use by other parents.
Conclusions:
Encouraging parents to keep a journal is a constructive way of dealing with the SCN-related stress.