Neonatal Intensive Care

Abstract

Although there are numerous anecdotal reports of parental stress following preterm birth, there are few empirical studies that document parents' perceptions concerning what is stressful. Of the extant research literature, there are even fewer studies targeting fathers as well as mothers. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare mothers' and fathers' perceptions of stress during the initial few weeks of their preterm infant's NICU hospitalization. Thirty-two mothers and 25 fathers were asked open-ended questions concerning the general experience of having a low-birthweight, premature infant hospitalized in a NICU. They then identified all the things they considered stressful, described the stressor they felt had been the most stressful, and rated the stressfulness of the NICU experience. Results showed that numerous stressors were identified across several different contexts (e.g., NICU, work, family). In addition, there were differences between mothers and fathers in the number and types of stressors. However, when asked to identify which stressor was most stressful, the majority of both mothers and fathers chose stressors related to the infant's health and the physical separation due to the hospitalization. The service implications of these results are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bennett, F. (1987). Neonatal follow-up in predicting the long term outcome of the low birth weight infant. Paper presented at Developmental Interventions in Neonatal Care, San Francisco, CA.

Ensher, G.L. , & Stevens, E.S. (1986). Families of at-risk infants: Need and development. In C.L. Ensher & D.A. Clark (Eds.), Newborns at risk (pp. 177–189). Rockville, MD: Aspen.

Gilkerson, L , Gorski, P. , & Panitz, P. (1990). Hospital-based intervention for preterm infants and their families. In S. Meisels & J. Shonkoff (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood intervention (pp. 445–468). NY: Cambridge University Press.

Harrison, H. (1983). The premature baby book New York: St. Martin's Press.

Johnson, S. H. (1983). Parents of the premature infant. In V.J. Sasserath (Ed.), Minimizing high risk parenting (pp. 62–65). Skillman, NJ: Johnson & Johnson Baby Products Company Pediatric Round Table Series.

Lazarus, R.S. , & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.

McCarton, C.M. (1986). The long-term impact of a low birthweight infant on the family. Zero to three: Bulletin of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, 6, 6–10.

Miles, M.S. (1989). Parents of critically ill premature infants: Sources of stress. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 12(3), 69–74.

Miles, M.S. , & Carter, M.C. (1982). Sources of parental stress in pediatric intensive care units. Children's Health Care, 11, 65–69.

10.

Miles, M.S. , & Carter, M.C. (1983). Assessing parental stress in intensive care units. Maternal Child Nursing Journal, 8, 354–360.

11.

Miller, B.X. , & Sollie, D.L. (1980). Normal stresses during the transition to parenthood. Family Relations, 29, 459–465.

12.

Mueller, C.W. , & Parcel, T.L. (1981). Measures of socioeconomic status: Alternatives and recommendations. Child Development, 52, 13–30.

13.

Paludetto, R. , Faggiano-Perfetto, M. , Asprea, A.M , DeCurtis, M. , & Margara-Paludetto, P. (1981). Reactions of sixty parents allowed unrestricted contact with infants in a neonatal intensive care unit. Early Human Development, 5, 401–409.

14.

Perlman, N.B. (1986). What are they doing to my baby now?. Zero to Three: Bulletin of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, 6, 10–11.

15.

Yu, V.Y. , Jamieson, J. , & Astbury, J (1981). Parents' reactions to unrestricted parental contact with infants in the intensive care nursery. The Medical Journal of Australia, 7, 294–296.