Abstract
BackgroundParents of babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) undergo considerable stress. There is evidence that mindfulness reduces stress in these parents. Kangaroo Care (KC) is practiced in NICUs across the world and is stress-relieving. Whether mindfulness practiced during KC in the NICU reduces parental distress has not yet been studied. The objective was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of teaching and practicing mindfulness during KC for mothers of premature babies. The objective was also to document preliminary outcomes of Mindful Kangaroo Care (MKC) on maternal stress, anxiety, depression, and mindful awareness.MethodsIn this pilot randomized controlled study, mothers of premature babies who were expected to stay in the NICU for at least four weeks were taught two mindfulness exercises to practice during KC and compared to mothers who received standard care with no mindfulness teaching. Mothers filled out stress, anxiety, depression and mindful awareness scales at recruitment and after four weeks. Acceptability and feasibility questionnaires were also completed.ResultsFifteen mothers per group completed the study. The MKC group demonstrated a significant within-group reduction in anxiety (p = 0.003), depression (p = 0.02) and stress (p = 0.002), and a significant increase in both the curiosity (p = 0.008) and decentering (p = 0.01) scores of the Toronto Mindfulness Scale, all of which had medium to large effect sizes. Only the increases in curiosity and decentering were significant between groups. Fourteen mothers found the intervention acceptable, one neutral.ConclusionMKC was acceptable, feasible and led to a reduction in stress, anxiety and depression in mothers who practiced mindfulness exercises during KC.
Highlights
Parents of babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) undergo considerable stress
Mothers with preterm babies admitted to the Stollery Children Hospital NICU, Royal Alexandra site, were eligible to enter the study if (a) fluent in spoken and written English, (b) the baby had an anticipated stay at this NICU for at least four weeks following recruitment, (c) if the baby’s medical condition allowed Kangaroo Care (KC) at recruitment, (d) if the mother was available for regular KC during the four weeks after recruitment, and (e) if mother agreed to receive teaching for 30–45 min weekly during those four weeks
Standard Care (SC) mothers did not receive any mindfulness coaching but had a weekly visit to encourage them to fill out the KC log
Summary
Parents of babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) undergo considerable stress. Kangaroo Care (KC) is practiced in NICUs across the world and is stress-relieving. Whether mindfulness practiced during KC in the NICU reduces parental distress has not yet been studied. The objective was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of teaching and practicing mindfulness during KC for mothers of premature babies. Parents of babies admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) undergo considerable stress [1]. NICU parents report a high level of mood and anxiety symptoms across diverse ethnocultural groups and countries [4]. Mindfulness has been shown to be feasible in the NICU [6,7,8,9] and reduced parental stress [7, 8]. Parents generally want to remain with their babies when in the NICU and do not attend group programs [8]
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