Evaluating the Effect of First Skin to Skin Contact Father with Premature Infants Admitted to their Anxiety

The birth of a premature baby shocks parents a lot. Although fathers also experience high levels of anxiety, they have received little attention and research. In order to focus on family care, this study was conducted to determine the effect of the first skin contact of fathers with premature infants hospitalized on their anxiety in the neonatal intensive care unit.

This study was a randomized clinical trial with two experimental and control groups. 72 fathers of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Shohada-e-Kargar Hospital were selected. In the experimental group, fathers made skin-to-skin contact with their infants for half an hour. In the control group, no intervention was performed. The level of anxiety in the experimental and control groups before and after the intervention was determined using the Spielberger Anxiety Questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using t-test and Chi-square statistical tests in SPSS 16 software.

The results showed that before the intervention in the experimental group, the mean scores of trait and state anxiety were 54.28±16.26 and 50.36±14.66, respectively, these mean scores in the control group, were 59.81±14.48 and 58.86±15.41, respectively, which was not statistically significant. However, after the intervention, the mean scores of trait (47.92±10.1) and state anxiety (48.47±9.7) of the experimental group compared to the mean scores of trait (57.72±14.65) and state anxiety (62.47±14.16) of the control group decreased, which showed a statistically significant difference (p<0/05).

According to the results, making the first skin contact reduces the level of anxiety in fathers of premature infants.