The contribution of maternal psychological functioning to infant length of stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

ObjectiveAssess maternal psychological functioning within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and its contribution to neonate length of stay (LOS) in the NICU.Study designMothers of infants admitted to the NICU (n=111) were assessed regarding postpartum depression, postpartum social support, postpartum NICU stress, and maternal anxiety at 2 weeks postpartum. Illness severity was assessed with the Clinical Risk Index for Babies (CRIB).ResultsPostpartum depression was not significantly correlated with LOS, but was significantly correlated with trait anxiety (r=0.620), which was significantly correlated with LOS (r=0.227). Among mothers with previous mental health history, substance abuse history and CRIB score were the best predictors of LOS. For mothers without a prior mental health issues, delivery type, stress associated with infant appearance, and CRIB scores were the best predictors of LOS. In this group, LOS was found to increase on average by 7.06 days per one unit increase in stress associated with infant appearance among mothers with the same delivery type and CRIB score.ConclusionSignificant correlations of trait anxiety, stress associated with infant appearance, and parental role with LOS support the tenet that postpartum psychological functioning can be associated with NICU LOS.

The Hassan Neonatal Morbidity Composite Scale and Neonatal Length of Stay—A Validation Study

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How to promote ‘discipline without tough love’ during pregnancy: a randomized controlled trial

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Ansiedade, sintomas depressivos e qualidade de vida em mães de recém-nascidos com malformações congênitas: um estudo de acompanhamento durante o primeiro ano pós-parto

“…Elevados níveis de ansiedade (Lisanti, et al, 2017), estresse (Cherry, et al, 2016;Ong, et al, 2019) e depressão (Cole, et al, 2018) têm sido observados em mães de recém-nascidos admitidos em UTIN com reflexos significativos em sua qualidade de vida (dos Santos Oliveira, et al, 2016;Frybova, et al, 2017). Uma investigação precoce dos sinais iniciais de Research, Society andDevelopment, v. 10, n. 16, e193101623405, 2021 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i16.23405 3 ansiedade e depressão podem contribuir para a melhoria na relação do binômio mãe-bebê (Alexopoulou, et al, 2018), no bemestar psicológico materno e no crescimento e desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor da criança (Bozkurt, et al, 2017).…”