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Stress Level of Parents of Hospitalized Preterm Neonates

Background: Preterm birth is an unexpected event, which is very stressful for the parents and family members as they are never prepared for this situation. The major stressors of parental stress such as the appearance of the neonate, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment, condition of the neonate, behaviour of care professionals and financial implications are well documented. Objective: To assess the level of stress among the parents of preterm hospitalized neonates admitted in the NICU, Nehru Hospital, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Methods: Data were collected by interviewing 17 parents on the fifth day of admission to the NICU, PGIMER, Chandigarh, after taking informed written consent from them. The Parental Stress Scale–NICU (PSS-NICU) and the fathers stress scale were used to assess the stress level of parents of hospitalized preterm neonates. Data were analysed by using SPSS (version 20). Results: The mean age of mothers was 28.24 ± 4.96 and that of the fathers was 30.29 ± 4.25. The total mean mothers’ stress score was 171.76 ± 33.44, and the total mean fathers’ stress score was 125.02 ± 36.16. Conclusion: The study showed that mothers and fathers were very stressful during the period of hospitalization of their preterm neonates.