The effect of home-based phototherapy on parental stress in mothers of infants with neonatal jaundice

Abstract

BackgroundHospitalization of an infant in the first days following birth is one of the most stressful events in the life of the parents of any parent. More than half of the infants suffer from neonatal jaundice, and are referred to health centers by their parents for treatment. In wake of this, the present study aims to examine the effect of home-based phototherapy on parental stress in mothers of infants with neonatal jaundice. MethodsThis is a clinical trial carried out on 64 infants with hyperbilirubinemia referred to health centers of Isfahan in 2017. The samples were randomly divided into two experimental (home-based phototherapy) and control (hospital-based phototherapy) groups. The instruments consisted of the training checklist, demographic characteristics of the mother and the parental stress scale, which was given to the parents at two stages, and the data were recorded on a daily basis and at the end of the intervention. ResultsThe results of this study showed that the mean score of maternal stress before intervention was not significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.008), but after intervention, the mean score of maternal stress in the home-based phototherapy group (56.51) was significantly lower than that of the hospital-based phototherapy group (65.23) (P < 0.001). ConclusionAccording to the findings of this research, home-based phototherapy can be considered as a suitable strategy for treatment and prevention of infant admission by reducing parental stress.