Maternal Stressor Agents with Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Birth of a premature infant is associated with separation from family and hospitalization. Actually, parents would undergo a lot of stress. The present study aimed to determine stressor agents of the mothers with premature infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). This was a descriptive study with 140 mothers with premature infants admitted to the NICUs of three educational medical centers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences using Parental Stressor Scale (PSS) Questionnaire of Miles and Funk (1998). The data analyzed using descriptive-analytical statistical method and SPSS 16 software. Among the cases related to environmental stressor agents, the following items were reported as the most experienced stressor agents by mothers: breathing apparatus for infants (27.9%), the sudden sound of the monitor buzzer (25.7%) and cases related to appearance and behavior of the infant and special treatments such as stop breathing (70.7%), sudden skin discoloration of infant (55%) and cases related to parental-neonatal relationship such as separation from the infant (69.3%) and feeling helpless to protect the infant from pain and painful procedures (60.7%). Furthermore, the aspect of “appearance and behavior of the infant and special treatments” was more stressful in comparison with other stressor aspects. According to study findings, it is suggested to provide necessary preparations after the birth for parents (particularly mothers) with premature infants to face with the infants and make appropriate relation with them in NICUs.