Posttraumatic stress among mothers of very low birthweight infants at 6 months after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

This correlational study examined how mother's posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are related to characteristics of the mother and her infant, as well as to mother–infant interaction and infant development, in 21 mothers of very low birthweight infants. Twenty-three percent of mothers scored in the clinical range on a measure of PTSD. How ill the infant was during the NICU hospitalization was related to mothers' PTSD symptoms. Mothers with greater PTSD symptoms were less sensitive and effective at structuring interaction with their infant.