Effects of kangaroo mother care on anxiety and parenting stress in premature mothers

Abstract

Objective To investigate the application effect of kangaroo mother care on anxiety and parenting stress in premature mothers during hospitalization. Methods From January to December 2018, 230 premature mothers were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Ningxia Medical University General Hospital.They were randomly divided into the intervention group(n=114) and the control group(n=116). The premature infants in control group only implemented routine developmental support care.The premature infants in the intervention group was on the basis of routine developmental support care, 2 hours per day of kangaroo mother care was performed from the 2nd day incharge to discharge.Parental Stress Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Parenting Stress Index-Short Form was performed using the 2nd day and the 14th day of hospitalization, and the two groups of premature mothers were evaluated for anxiety and parenting stress. Results There were no significant differences in the scores of PSS: NICU((3.65±0.91) vs (3.63±0.91)) and PSI-SF((90.32±8.95) vs (90.12±7.17))(both P>0.05) between the two groups on the 2nd day of hospitalization (before intervention). On the 14th day of hospitalization (after intervention), the total scores ((2.57±0.80) vs (3.47±0.93))and each dimension scores of PSS: NICU in the intervention group were lower than those in the control group (first part (2.41±0.78) vs (3.81±0.73), second part (2.61±0.71) vs (3.14±0.83), third part (2.75±0.86) vs (3.57±1.06), fourth part(2.49±0.80) vs (3.35±0.94))(P<0.01). In addition, the total score of PSI-SF((79.09±8.02) vs (89.46±8.74)), parenting Distress((32.32±9.48) vs (37.15±9.67)), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction((24.26±5.07) vs (27.34±5.26)), and Difficult Child scores((22.51±4.88) vs (24.97±5.05)) in the intervention group were lower than those in the control group(P<0.01). Conclusion Kangaroo mother care can reduce the anxiety of premature mothers during hospitalization and help relieve the parenting stress of premature mothers. Key words: Kangaroo mother care; Premature infant; Anxiety; Parenting stress