Differences in perceived parental stress between parents with very low birth weight infants and nurses in neonatal intensive care units, South Korea

Purpose This descriptive study compared the perceived parental stress levels between parents with very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) and nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods In total, 83 parents of VLBWIs and 78 NICU nurses were enrolled. Data were collected with the Parent...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Seol-Hee Moon, Ho-Ran Park, Dong Yeon Kim
Format: article
Language:EN
Published: Korean Academy of Child Health Nursing 2021
Subjects:
R
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/b827c33693c943f399fd7c0cd5b485cf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose This descriptive study compared the perceived parental stress levels between parents with very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) and nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods In total, 83 parents of VLBWIs and 78 NICU nurses were enrolled. Data were collected with the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) and analyzed using the t-test and analysis of variance in SAS version 9.4. Results The average PSS score was 3.31 among parents and 3.45 among nurses. The stress score was significantly higher among nurses with children (t=2.46, p=.016) and senior nurses (t=2.12, p=.037). There was a significant difference in the stress score according to parents' education (t=3.29, p=.002) and occupation (F=3.14, p=.049) in the sights and sounds subscale. Mothers had significantly higher stress scores than fathers in the parental role alterations subscale (t=2.32, p=.023). Parental stress scores were higher than those perceived by nurses in the infant's appearance and behaviors subscale for breathing patterns (t=2.95, p=.004), followed by jerky/restless behavior (t=2.70, p=.008). Conclusion Nurses should provide explanations to parents of VLBWIs in order to reduce parental stress about the appearances and behavior of VLBWIs. This is more important than aspect of the NICU environment and education about parental roles.