Mother's Performance on Caring for their Premature Infants: A Pilot Study

Mothers’ involvement in the care of their premature infants is one of most effective ways to prevent disorders associated with hospitalization. This study aimed to determine mothers’ Performance on Caring for their Premature Infants in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences، during 2012. It was a descriptive، cross-sectional pilot study. First two hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences which had NICUs were randomly selected and then 90 mothers of premature infants were recruited by convenience sampling. Data was collected using an observational checklist (including kangaroo mother care، massage، breast feeding، cup feeding and bathing) by two trained nurses and analyzed by descriptive statistics، chi- square tests and one-way analysis of variance using SPSS-PC (v. 16). The mean age of the mothers was 27±1 with the range of 16-46 years old. The findings showed that 42. 02 percent of mothers had poor performance، 41. 16 percent had moderate performance and 16. 82 percent had appropriate performance in the care of their premature babies. There were no significant relationship between mothers’ education، job، age، and infants’ weight and the mothers’ performance. There was not also a significant difference between birth order، the number of children and the mothers’ levels of performance (P>0. 05). Regarding the findings، executing educational sessions on care of premature infants for their mothers in NICUs is recommended. More studies with larger samples are also required.