Parenting Stress in Mothers of Premature Infants

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to assess the parenting stress in mothers of premature infants and stress related characteristics of mothers and infants. METHODS: The methodology was a cross sectional survey study using self-report questionnaires. Participants in this study were 36 mothers of infants with corrected ages of 4 months to 12 months who were born prematurely. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation with the SPSS WIN 19.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score for parenting stress in mothers of premature infants was 74.639+/-17.570, indicating that the mothers actually experienced stress. When mothers were able to have some private time, parenting stress was statistically significantly lower. When the residential status was having one's own house and the local community provided informational support regarding child nurturing, there was a statistically significant decrease in the sub-category of particular infant temperament. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between mothers' depression and parenting stress. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that there is a need for nursing interventions to increase mothers' private time and to include informational support regarding health management of children including developmental status assessment from local communities.