Effect of nursing interventions on stressors of parents of premature infants in neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

This study was planned for the purpose of determining the effect of stress-reducing nursing interventions on the stress levels of mothers and fathers of premature infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Randomised intervention. The physical and psychosocial environment of the NICU is a major factor in the stress experienced by the family. Interviews were conducted with the parents of premature infants who agreed to participate in the research. An approximately 30-minute educational programme about their infant and the intensive care unit was held for the mothers and fathers in the intervention group within the first week after their infant was admitted to the intensive care unit. Then they were introduced to the unit and personnel. They were given the information they requested and their questions were responded to. The parents in the control group received nothing in addition to the routine unit procedures. The mothers and fathers' stress scores were measured for both groups after their infants' 10th day in the NICU with the Parental Stress Scale: NICU (PSS:NICU). The difference between the intervention group and the control group mothers' mean stress score was found to be statistically significant (t = 4.05, p < 0.05). It was determined that the stress scores for the fathers in the treatment group in this research were lower, but the difference between the two groups was not found to be statistically significant (p > 0.05). It has been determined that parents experience very high stress levels when their infants are admitted to an NICU and that there are nursing interventions which can be implemented to decrease their levels of stress. Determining the sources of stress experienced by parents can help NICU nurses use appropriate interventions in cooperation with other members of the team to decrease the stress that parents experience.