The impact of stressors on Jordanian patients with infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit / Duaa Fayiz Mohammed Al-Maghaireh

Duaa Fayiz, Mohammed Al-Maghaireh (2017) The impact of stressors on Jordanian patients with infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit / Duaa Fayiz Mohammed Al-Maghaireh. PhD thesis, University of Malaya.

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Abstract

Admission of an infant to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is an unexpected event which can cause parents to experience psychosocial distress. The aim of this study was to identify the impact of stressors on Jordanian parents with infants in the NICU. A mixed methods research design was undertaken in three hospitals in Jordan. The Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) were used to survey 376 Jordanian parents with infants in the NICU. The quantitative results showed that the most common NICU stressor among parents with hospitalized infants in NICU is infant shape and behaviour (M = 3.76, SD = .914) whereas the lowest source of stress was sights and sounds (M = 3.56, SD = .918). There were strong positive associations between depression, anxiety and stress , on the other hand moderate positive association between sleep disturbance, and stress among mothers with hospitalized infant in NICU, with r of depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance equal to .584, .664 and .425 respectively. Moreover, there were strong positive associations between depression, anxiety and stress, on the other hand a weak positive association between sleep disturbance, and stress among fathers with hospitalized infant in NICU, with r of depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance equal to .523, .615, and .210 respectively. In addition, infant characteristics such as gestational age, medical condition classification, and birth weight were significant factors that influence stress levels among parents with hospitalized infants in NICU, whereas infant gender did not significantly impact parental stress. Parent characteristics such as parent age, parent gender, first baby experience, history of infertility, and medical history had significant influence on stress levels among parents with hospitalized infants in NICU. The results also showed the difference of parent and infant characteristics on the impact of stress. Finally, a model iv was established to show the relationships between the variables. With regard to qualitative results, many themes were derived: emotional responses, sources of stress in NICU, impact of stress, and coping strategies. In conclusion, the stress and burden of having an infant hospitalized in the NICU cannot be underestimated as parents face exposure to multiple stressors related to the condition of their infant, NICU environment and staff, as well as altered parental roles. The effect of stress extends from their homes to their workplace, and they carry this psychological and emotional burden everywhere they go, even as they fend off societal judgment and prejudice about the health of their offspring. Thus, they inevitably suffer from negative psychological consequences, interrupted development of healthy parent-infant attachment, and changes to anticipated parental roles.

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