Comparing the effect of kangaroo mother care and massage on preterm infant pain score, stress, anxiety, depression, and stress coping strategies of their mothers

Abstract

Background:The need to care for premature infants causes a lot of anxiety and stress in their mothers. This study aimed to compare the effect of kangaroo mother care and Preterm infant massage on pain score, stress, anxiety, depression, and stress coping strategies of their mothers. Methods:This double-blind three-group clinical trial study was conducted in the Bahar Hospital in Shahroud, Iran, in 2019.90 Mothers with preterm infants were assigned randomly to one of the three groups.Each group consisted of 30 mothers. The massage group received three 5-min massages each day for five consecutive days, and the kangaroo mother care group, the baby, remained in this condition at least 15 minutes or more, five consecutive days. The control group received only routine care for the neonatal intensive care unit.Data in all three groups collected before and after the interventions using the Coping Responses Inventory for Adult (CRI-A), The Depression. Anxiety, Stress 21, and Neonatal Infant Pain Scale. Findings:The Paired Sample T-Test showed that the mean score of infant pain in both intervention groups before and after the intervention was statistically significant (P<0.001). The ANOVA test and The Paired Sample T-Test also showed that the mean score of depression, Emotion-focused coping, and problem solving-based coping in mothers in all three groups before and after the intervention was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusions:Kangaroo mother care and massage can reduce the pain in preterm infants, and the level of anxiety, depression, and stress of mothers and increasing the strategies to deal with stress in mothers.