The aim of the present study was to compare the beliefs of mothers of term infants with the beliefs of mothers of preterm infants in regards to their locus of control mainly influencing their personal health and well-being. Mother's beliefs regarding the level of internal (self), social external (other individuals) and fatalistic external control (e.g. chance, destiny, and religion) were assessed while mothers were admitted to hospital postnatally. Thirty-five mothers of preterm infants under 32 weeks of gestation, and 35 mothers of term infants (≥ 37 weeks of gestation) were included and participated within the first three days after delivery. Between the group of mothers of term infants and the group of mothers of preterm infants there was a significant difference in the level of fatalistic external control of health and disease they experienced. Mother's beliefs regarding internal and social external control did not differ between the two groups. When dealing with the mothers of preterm infants one should consider their strong beliefs that health and disease are largely dependent on fatalistic external factors. This might help to improve mother-child interaction and as a consequence also neurobehavioral development of the preterm infant.
Aim:In this study we investigated, if there were any differences in stress management between mothers of preterm babies and mothers of term babies.
Methods:In the first three days after delivery, mothers of preterm babies (born between 28 and 33 weeks of gestation) and mothers of term babies (born >37 weeks of gestation) were given the stress management questionnaire SVF 120 (Janke, Erdmann, Kallus und Boucsein, 1997) to assess their individual stress management strategies. This questionnaire is designed to recognise positive and negative strategies of stress management, to assess mothers' desire for social support, avoidance of stress and also aggressive behaviour in stressful situations.Results: So far we have recruited 23 mothers (age: 29.9±5.1 years) of preterm babies (gestational age: 32.6±2.8 days; birth weight: 1911±558g) and 23 mothers (age: 30.2±5.1 years) of term babies (gestational age: 40.1±0.9 days; birth weight: 3464±347g) to participate in the study.Mothers of preterm babies had significantly lower levels of aggressive behaviour and of negative stress management strategies (avoidance, social withdrawal, resignation, self pity and self blame) (p< 0.05) in stressful situations in comparison to mothers of term babies.There was no difference between the two groups in regards to positive strategies, desire for social support and avoidance behaviour.
Conclusion:This is the first study to show that there is a difference in stress management between mothers of preterm and term babies. This is important information when dealing with and considering support for mothers of term and preterm babies.
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