Mental Status and Fear of COVID-19 in Mothers of Hospitalized Children With Chronic Diseases During the Pandemic

Mothers may experience a great deal of fear and anxiety during their child’s hospitalization during a pandemic, which can affect their decision to proceed with the child’s treatment. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between mental status and fear of COVID-19 in mothers of children with chronic diseases, hospitalized during the pandemic in 2021.

This is a descriptive correlational study. The research sample was 196 mothers of children with chronic diseases hospitalized in hospitals affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran who were selected by convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale (HADS) and analyzed by SPSS software, version 22, using analysis of variance, independent two-sample t-test, Pearson correlation test, and regression analysis. The significance level was set at 0.05. 

The Mean±SD of hospital anxiety, depression, and fear of COVID-19 were 9.6±3.2, 10.86±2.2, and 10.8±2.2, respectively. Most mothers suffered from borderline anxiety (63.3%) and depression (86.7%). There was a significant association between hospital anxiety (P<0.001) and depression (P<0.001) with fear of COVID-19. The mothers' hospital anxiety was significantly associated with the child's type of disease (P<0.001) and the frequency of hospitalizations (P=0.1). Besides, there was a direct relationship between hospital depression with the child's age (P=0.3) and length of hospitalization (P=0.002). Furthermore, their fear of COVID-19 had a significant relationship with the child's age (P=0.008), type of disease (P<0.000), and length and frequency of hospitalizations (P<0.000).

Providing the possibility of receiving mental health counseling during the hospitalization of children seems necessary considering the conditions of mothers during the epidemic.