OF MATERNAL ANXIETY AFTER HOSPITALIZATION OF THEIR CHILDREN, BEFORE AND AFTER HIS/HER DISCHARGE

Child hospitalization is one of the anxiety producing factors for both the child and his/her parents. Anxiety will delay the child recovery and decrease the parent's abilities in caring for their children. The anxiety may be present long after discharge. To determine the level of maternal anxiety after child's hospitalization and also before and after child's discharge from hospital. Design : This was a longitudinal study. The level of mother's anxiety was measured using spilbarger questionnaire at three stages of after hospitalization, before and after child's discharge. Samples : 70 mothers of hospitalized children (age 1-3) were selected through continuo's sampling. There was a significant difference between the level of mother's anxiety after child hospitalization and before and after his/her discharge (PV= 0.000). According to mother's anxiety in three stage (after hospitalization, before and after discharge) researcher recommend that nurses, take a complete demographic history of mothers at the time of admission so that they can plan a program to decrease mother's anxiety and also provide them with a telephone number so that in case of any question they can in touch after their child's discharge.