Psychological Stress Of Parents Research Articles

Psychological Stress in Parents Delivering Preterm Child and Effects of Psychological Intervention on Them

Background: Mothers and fathers may experience negative emotions as a result of an unusual early delivery and giving birth to high-risk newborns who require hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) adds layers of stress on them. Hence, a variety of psychological and emotional services are required. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify common stressors in both parents of preterm children in the NICU and determine the effect of psychological intervention in the form of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on stress in both parents. Materials and Methodology: A total of 60 parents of preterm children were randomly assigned to Intervention Group A and Control Group B. Group A received five sessions of ACT and routine counseling, while Group B received only routine nursing staff counseling. The Parental Stress Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) was used for pre- and postassessments to measure the parents’ stress levels on the 1st and 5th days, respectively. Results: Mothers’ stress levels in the NICU are significantly higher when they have a higher socioeconomic status, a higher education level, and a length of stay of more than 6 days, but significant stress is not found in fathers. ACT, when used along with routine counseling, is effective in reducing stress in both parents. Conclusion: ACT can be combined with routine counseling to help parents cope with depression, anxiety, and stress associated with preterm birth in the NICUs.

Psychological Stress in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between parents' educational level, child's birth order within the family, and family size with psychological stress in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Parents of children with ASD were recruited through convenience sampling at Hospital (n = 230). The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) assessed psychological stress. Independent-sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: The average score for the PSS among parents with children diagnosed with ASD was 19.83±6.13. Parents with higher educational attainment reported lower psychological stress compared to those with lower degrees. Parents of firstborn children diagnosed with ASD experienced greater stress than parents of children diagnosed later. Parents with one child with ASD reported higher stress compared to parents with two or three children. No significant difference in stress levels was observed between mothers and fathers. Conclusion: This study highlights the influence of educational level, child's birth order, and family size on parental stress in families with ASD children. These findings inform the development of targeted support strategies to create a more supportive environment for families coping with ASD.

Family quality of life of parents of children with intellectual disability: Do psychological stress and parental involvement matter?

Background: The psychological stress of parents and improving family quality of life (FQoL) are continuing concerns for families of children with intellectual disability. We need to identify further ways to reduce their stress and improve their FQoL in China. Method: Examine the interrelations between psychological stress, parental involvement, and FQoL for parents with intellectual disability in mainland China. 467 parents of children with intellectual disability completed instruments measuring variables. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to examine the interrelations. Results: Psychological stress, directly and indirectly, influenced parental involvement in FQoL. Physical and mental response (PMR) and risk awareness (RA) had a positive direct effect on FQoL, and optimistic hope (OH) had a negative effect on FQoL. Conclusions: Psychological stress affects FQoL of parents with children with intellectual disability in complex ways. Policies should be developed to help parents with children with disability decrease stress and develop scientific parental involvement.

Early growth trajectory is associated with psychological stress in parents of infants with congenital heart disease, but moderated by quality of partner relationship

PurposeTo explore the relationships between growth trajectory, parenting stress and parent post-traumatic stress (PTS), in infants with congenital heart disease, and the moderating role of parents' dyadic adjustment on those associations. Design and methodsA secondary analysis of data from the REACH Telehalth home monitoring multi-site randomized clinical trial. Parents completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Post-traumatic diagnostic scale, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations of interest. ResultsDuring 4-month follow-up after hospital discharge, parents of infants with ‘Never recovered’ and ‘Partially recovered’ growth trajectories had 2–5 times higher odds of experiencing higher stress on the Parent Domain (OR = 4.8, CI = 1.3–18.0; OR = 2.5, CI = 1.0–5.9, respectively) than those with stably grown infants. Parents of “Never recovered” infants had 4 times higher odds of PTS symptoms (OR = 3.9; CI = 1.6–9.9). Parental dyadic adjustment moderated the relationships. Parents of ‘Partially recovered’ infants and having low dyadic adjustment had 3–5 times higher odds of high stress on all PSI domains, while parents with high dyadic adjustment did not have increased stress due to poor infant growth. Parents of “Never recovered” infants had four times higher odds of PTS symptom, even with high dyadic adjustment. ConclusionsInfant growth trajectory over the first four months is associated with parenting stress and PTS. Quality of partner relationship moderates some of these associations. Practice implicationsInfant growth should serve as a screening aid for identifying parents at psychological risk. Interventions targeting the quality of partner relationship may support parental coping and mitigate stress.Clinical Trial Registration:NCT01941667

Psychological Stress in Parents of Children with Atopic Dermatitis: A Cross-sectional Study from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Atopic dermatitis is a chronically relapsing inflammatory skin condition that has profound impacts on quality of life of patients and their family. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychological stress in parents of children with atopic dermatitis in Korea, using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). This cross-sectional study included parents of participants under 19 years of age (970 with atopic dermatitis and 5,733 without atopic dermatitis after excluding those who meet the exclusion criteria) from the 2009 to 2012 KNHANES. The psychological stress state was evaluated with the following four questionnaire items: self-perception of stress, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and diagnosis of depression by a physician. After adjusting for age, gender, education level, occupation, and marital status, logistic regression analyses indicated that mothers of children with atopic dermatitis had a higher frequency of stress perception (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.46 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.22-1.74), p < 0.01) and suicidal ideation (aOR 1.40 (95% CI 1.1-1.79), p < 0.01) than those without atopic dermatitis. In contrast, fathers of children with atopic dermatitis did not show a significant difference in all items compared with those of children without atopic dermatitis. Understanding the psychological stress in parents of children with atopic dermatitis is important for clinicians, since evaluation, management and support for parents, especially mothers, of children with atopic dermatitis are required.

Psychological Stress of Parents during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the Effectiveness of teaching and learning at home (PdPR)

Psychological Stress of Parents during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the Effectiveness of teaching and learning at home (PdPR)

Substantial reduction of cost of care of PWH by add on homoeopathic medicine reduced the parental anxiety and stress

Introduction and Background: Psychological stress is found to be increasing in the present era because of the number of factors. One of the causes of psychological stress is their concern and anxiety for their child, be it their study or health. Hemophilia is a blood genetic disease which not only carries stress to the patient, but a cause of psychological stress to parents owing to its severity and high-cost management. Stress coping and management becomes difficult for such parents. Therefore this study was undertaken to examine the role of homeopathic medicine in managing psychological stress in parents of people with hemophilia (PWH). Materials and Methods: 100 parents of PWH were selected by randomized sampling technique from the period 2014-2016 at homeopathy in hemophilia research centre, Nashik. FISC-MR scale was used to measure the levels of stress in 10 different aspects of the life of parents of PWH. Result: For each scale, the mean difference in before and after treatment was highly significant at P = 0.0001. Conclusion: Parents of PWH suffer from stress associated with children's health condition. It affects parental IPR and relationship with society. This study has shown that homeopathic medicines are effective in coping with psychological stress among parents of PWH. It has markedly increased the interpersonal relationship and social relationship.

A brief version of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP) in Spanish population: Stress of main family carers of chronic paediatric patients.

A chronic illness in childhood has a negative impact on the paediatric patient and on family functioning. Psychological stress in parents influences the level of adjustment to the illness of their children. The Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP) was designed to measure stress in parents whose child has a chronic illness or requires prolonged medical monitoring. The main objective of this study is to provide a brief version of the Spanish translation of the PIP, across a sample consisting of 465 main familial caregivers (85.2% female, n = 396) between 27 and 67 years old ( = 44.13; SD = 5.35) of paediatric patients between 9 and 18 years old ( = 12.10, SD = 2.20; 56.8% men, n = 264) diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type I (20.9% of the sample; n = 97), short stature (32.5% of the sample; n = 151), or a chronic respiratory disease (asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchiolitis obliterans and bronchiectasis) (46.6% of the sample; n = 217). After performing several EFAs (Exploratory Factor Analyses) and CFAs (Confirmatory Factorial Analyses), it was decided that 30 items need to be removed. Reliability and validity results suggest that the new 12-item version possesses appropriate psychometric properties. Cronbach’s alpha value ranging between α = .42 and α = .81 and fit values obtained indicate a good fit: χ2/df (88.393/48) = 1.84 (α < .01); S-B χ2(df) = 88.393 (48); CFI = .95; IFI = .95; RMSEA = .05 (.033 - .074) for the frequency scales and χ2/df (72.002/48) = 1.5 (α < .01); S-Bχ2(df) = 72.002 (48); CFI = .97; IFI = .97; RMSEA = .04 (.011 - .063) for the difficulty scales. The PIP also showed predictive ability in regards to anxiety and depression, a positive relationship between the instrument's own scales and a negative relationship with the caregiver's age. Finally, depending on the paediatric patient's diagnosis, differences in stress levels were found.

Posttraumatic Stress Reactions in Parents of Children Esophageal Atresia.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate psychological stress in parents of children with esophageal atresia and to explore factors associated with the development of Posttraumatic Stress disorder (PTSD).DesignSelf-report questionnaires were administered to parents of children with EA. Domains included: (1) sociodemographic data, current personal difficulties, assessment scales for the quality of life and for the global health status of the child (2) French-validated versions of the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress disorder Questionnaire and of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Associations between PTSD and severity of the neonatal course, presence of severe sequelae at 2 years of age, and quality of life and global health status of children according to their parents’ perception were studied.SettingA Tertiary care University HospitalResultsAmong 64 eligible families, 54 parents of 38 children (59%) participated to the study. PTSD was present in 32 (59%) parents; mothers were more frequently affected than fathers (69 vs 46%, p = 0.03). Four mothers (8%) had severe anxiety. PTSD was neither associated with neonatal severity nor with severe sequelae at 2 years. Parents with PTSD rated their child’s quality of life and global health status significantly lower (7.5 vs 8.6; p = 0.01 and 7.4 vs 8.3; p = 0.02 respectively).ConclusionsPTSD is frequent in parents of children with esophageal atresia, independently of neonatal severity and presence of severe sequelae at 2 years of age. Our results highlight the need for a long-term psychological support of families.

The impact of illness variables of a sample of ADHD children on their parents

IntroductionThe symptoms and behavior of children with ADHD impose demands and difficulties on part of their caring parents, which may cause the latter group to suffer psychological stress.ObjectivesThe study of the suffering and symptomatic expression of psychological stress in parents of children with ADHD.AimsTo study type and severity of symptoms in children with ADHD and the effect of that on the stress response of their parents.MethodsThirty-seven children with ADHD diagnosed clinically and with Conner's Test were studied using Child Behavior Chick List (CBCL). Available parents for each child were interviewed and studied with Symptom Chick List 90 Revised (SCL90R). Two control groups were used for both ADHD children and their parents.ResultsThe mean age of the children with ADHD was 7.1 ± 1.6, they were 22 males and 15 females. Parents of these children scored highly on total and subscales of SCL90R, they were significantly higher than their control group on total and some of these subscales including somatization, interpersonal, depression, paranoid ideation and hostility domains. Depression and paranoid ideation of ADHD children parents were positively and significantly correlated with most of the sub-items of Conner's test of their children. In addition, somatization, depression and hostility of parents were positively and significantly correlated with most of the sub-items of CBCL of their ADHD children.ConclusionsThe symptoms, behavior and severity of illness of children with ADHD have a great impact on their parents’ psychological state of suffering and stress.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Hirntod bei Kindern – Wie gehe ich mit den Eltern um?

For parents the death of children is hard to bear and to accept. In situations where a brain death needs to be diagnosed, the psychological stress for parents who lose their child is aggravated due to a mostly sudden and unprepared confrontation with this situation. The rationality to accept the death of a their child is opposed by the hope for recovery as long as the children are "warm and dead" instead of "cold and dead" due to the maintenance of cardiac circulation. In Germany in this situation, after diagnosing the brain death, doctors are forced by legislation to ask the parents to agree for organ donation. However, to our knowledge, no literature is available how doctors should conduct such an important conversation to the parents. This manuscript tries to give some hints for conducting a conversation from the psychological background of mourning and from our own experience gained during the last 5 years.