The Effect of an Educational Intervention Based on Gratitude on the Stress and Mental Health of Mothers of Preterm Infants Hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background and Objectives: One of the non-pharmacological interventions is gratitude, which has received less attention in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of an educational intervention based on gratitude on the stress and mental health of mothers with preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU. Methods: A quasi-experimental controlled study was conducted on 50 mothers with infants hospitalized in the NICU of Shahrekord City, Iran, who were divided into two intervention and control groups. The intervention group was trained by the researcher in three two-hour sessions every week for two weeks. The results related to mothers’ general health and stress were analyzed by the parental stress questionnaire and Goldberg and Hiller’s general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) before and after the intervention by the paired t-test. Results: The mean stress score of mothers in the intervention group significantly reduced (P<0.001). Stress was reduced in the mothers of the control group who only received routine training, but this reduction was not statistically significant (P>0.05) (before training: 35.72 and after training: 34.08). In the intervention group, the mean score of mental health improved significantly two weeks after the gratitude-based training program (P<0.05) (before training: 26.56 and after training: 19.20). Conclusion: This is the first study on the effectiveness of gratitude on the health of Iranian mothers with preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU. Gratitude improves the stress level and increases the quality of mental health. The belief that gratitude will increase blessings is a crucial part of Iranian women’s religious beliefs and is a critical factor in the effectiveness of mind and body interventions.