Effects of Anxiety, Parenting Efficacy, and Partnership With Nurses on the Caring Behaviors of Mothers of Hospitalized Children

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the anxiety, parenting efficacy, partnership with nurses, and caring behavior of mothers of hospitalized children and to identify the factors influencing their caring behavior.Methods: A survey was conducted from May 17 to October 17, 2023, with 94 mothers of hospitalized children in the pediatric ward of a tertiary general hospital in Jeollabuk-do. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and heteroscedasticity regression analysis. All statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 25.0.Results: The caring behavior of mothers of hospitalized children showed a significant negative correlation with state anxiety (r=-0.22, p=0.038) and a significant positive correlation with parenting efficacy (r=0.25, p=0.025) and partnership with nurses (r=0.42, p<0.001). The results of the heteroscedasticity regression analysis showed that partnership with nurses (B=0.29) significantly influenced caring behavior (F=7.85, p<0.001). The better the partnership with nurses, the higher the caring behavior of mothers of hospitalized children. The explanatory power of this model was 23.0%.Conclusion: This study confirmed that partnership with nurses significantly impacts the caring behaviors of mothers of hospitalized children. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement education and intervention programs to strengthen the partnership with nurses and improve the caring behaviors of mothers of hospitalized children.