Differences in parental stress in mothers and fathers of preterm infants: A prospective study in Poland.

Abstract

Introduction: The birth of a premature baby and hospitalization are stressful events for parents. The study aimed to assess the differences in parental stress experienced by parents of preterm infants provided with Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) during their stay in the hospital.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 337 randomly chosen parents of hospitalized babies born in Poland in 2016. As research tools, the Personal Information Form (PIF), Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS:NICU) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) were used.

Results: The significant association in every subscale of PSS:NICU (p<0.001 vs p=0.003 vs p<0.001) with the overall stress score (p<0.001) were confirmed. The start time of KMC implementation also turned out to be significantly lower in the group of mothers starting KMC at 1 week of the child's life for the overall stress score and subscales and I and III (p=0.024 vs p=0.024; total: p=0.005), while KMC did not affect the PSS:NICU results in the group of mothers and fathers. Parents' dominant stress management strategy was Task-Oriented Coping (p=0.123), but confronting the reality with Avoidance-Oriented Coping was the basis of their adaptation (p=0.591).

Conclusions: The parental stress level was higher in mothers than in fathers. Mothers' dominant strategy of coping with stress was Seeking Social Contact, and in fathers Emotion-Oriented Coping.