Factors associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Coping Styles in Parents of Preterm and Full-Term Infants

Abstract

Introduction:Birth of a premature infant and subsequent neonatal intensive care leads to psychological distress and trauma in parents. A large proportion of mothers show signs of trauma long after discharge from hospital. Fathers of premature infants are known to experience more stress than fathers of full-term infants. The sorrow experienced by parents of preterm infants is significantly higher than that experienced by parents of full-term infants because they have not been adequately prepared for the experience of birth, and need to cope with the stress caused by the clinical state and intensive care of the infant.Method:This was a descriptive-comparative study conducted in medical centers of Qom, Iran in 2012. In this study, 82 couples (164 mothers and fathers), participated in two groups as parents of preterm and full-term infants and completed demographic, midwifery, posttraumatic stress disorder, Spielberg anxiety questionnaires, and the Coping Inventory with Stressful Situation within 2 months after birth of their infant. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact, Mann-Whitney, independent t tests, logistic regression, and Repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS-18 software.Results:Posttraumatic stress disorder in preterm group mothers was significantly higher than in term group mothers (P=0.03), but no significant difference in this disorder was observed between fathers in these groups. There was a significant difference in coping styles with stress between mothers in the two groups (P<0.001) and between fathers in the two groups (P<0.001). Logistic model showed a significant correlation between posttraumatic stress and housing and coping strategies with stress in mothers.Conclusion:Parents of premature infants are more exposed to psychological disorders, and there is a need to adopt educational approaches to improve parents’ coping ability with preterm infant’s circumstance.

The role of sociodemographic factors in maternal psychological distress and mother‐preterm infant interactions

“…Older maternal age was associated with higher depressive symptoms, more parenting stress, and more maternal worry about child's health. This is inconsistent with previous findings that adolescent mothers reported more parenting stress than nonadolescent mothers (Andreozzi et al, 2002) and that mothers with psychological distress were younger (Bener, 2013), although others found no relationship between depressive symptoms and maternal age (Ghorbani et al, 2014;Wei et al, 2008). In our study, the older mothers may have been more worried than younger mothers because they were more likely to have undergone infertility treatments and were worried about having a positive outcome of pregnancy.…”

“…Similarly, adolescent mothers have reported more parenting stress than non-adolescent mothers (Andreozzi, Flanagan, Seifer, Brunner, & Lester, 2002). However, in other studies, no relationship was seen between elevated depressive symptoms and maternal age (Ghorbani et al, 2014;Wei et al, 2008). Older mothers have also shown to have more positive motherinfant interactions than adolescent mothers, with older mothers showing more positive affect and talking more (Levine et al, 1985).…”

“…Psychological distress and less positive mother‐infant interactions are common challenges for mothers of preterm infants. Mothers of preterm infants average higher depressive symptoms, post‐traumatic stress (PTS), anxiety, and worry about the child's health than mothers of full‐term infants (Brandon et al, ; Ghorbani, Dolatian, Shams, Alavi‐Majd, & Tavakolian, ; Kersting et al, ). In turn, maternal psychological distress has been associated with difficulty in establishing positive interactions between mothers and their infants (Holditch‐Davis, Schwartz, Black, & Scher, ; Korja, Latva, & Lehtonen, ).…”

Mothers’ Coping Strategies in Preparing for the Discharge of Low Birth Weight Infants from a Perinatology Ward

“…These results are in line with results of the study by Ghorbani, Dolatian, Shams, Alavi-Majd, & Tavakolian, (2014) which showed that maternal age, education, household income, and mother's job were not significantly associated with coping strategies. The correlation test was performed to uncover any correlation between variables of LBW infants' characteristics and the mean scores of mothers' coping strategies ( Table 7).…”

Metaanálisis: efecto de las intervenciones para disminuir el nivel de estrés en padres de prematuros

“…Se han reportado diversas fuentes de estrés como el ambiente de la Unidad de Cuidado Intensivo Neonatal (UCIN), el comportamiento y la apariencia del bebé, el desempeño del rol paterno y la comunicación con el personal de salud (16). Los padres se sienten angustiados cuando ven los diversos tubos en el cuerpo del bebé (17) o cuando este debe recibir procedimientos invasivos (18).…”