Cargando…
COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units
COVID-19 compounds the already high levels of psychological distress experienced by NICU mothers. We aimed to describe the rates of NICU-related maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine how COVID-19 experiences correlate with high levels of stress experienced by NICU mothers. We...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8870163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204971 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020251 |
_version_ | 1784656672275300352 |
---|---|
author | Erdei, Carmina Feldman, Natalie Koire, Amanda Mittal, Leena Liu, Cindy Hsin Ju |
author_facet | Erdei, Carmina Feldman, Natalie Koire, Amanda Mittal, Leena Liu, Cindy Hsin Ju |
author_sort | Erdei, Carmina |
collection | PubMed |
description | COVID-19 compounds the already high levels of psychological distress experienced by NICU mothers. We aimed to describe the rates of NICU-related maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine how COVID-19 experiences correlate with high levels of stress experienced by NICU mothers. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis based on responses to a nationwide online survey to understand the relationship between COVID-19-related experiences and the stress experienced by mothers of infants admitted to U.S. NICUs (n = 108) during the pandemic. Results indicate that 61.9% of surveyed mothers reported experiencing high levels of stress on the Parental Stressor Scale: NICU. COVID-19-related grief was significantly associated with higher levels of maternal stress, as it related to seeing the baby’s appearance and behavior in the NICU and exposure to sights and sounds within the NICU environment. No significant associations were noted between parental stress and COVID-19-related health worries or worries about resources. Of note, our recruitment relied on convenience sampling, limiting the generalizability of study results. In conclusion, mothers who experience COVID-19-related grief appear to be more vulnerable to NICU-related stress. Prioritizing parent involvement and enhancing psychosocial support are essential strategies to mitigate the long-term consequences of heightened stress for NICU families. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8870163 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88701632022-02-25 COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units Erdei, Carmina Feldman, Natalie Koire, Amanda Mittal, Leena Liu, Cindy Hsin Ju Children (Basel) Article COVID-19 compounds the already high levels of psychological distress experienced by NICU mothers. We aimed to describe the rates of NICU-related maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine how COVID-19 experiences correlate with high levels of stress experienced by NICU mothers. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis based on responses to a nationwide online survey to understand the relationship between COVID-19-related experiences and the stress experienced by mothers of infants admitted to U.S. NICUs (n = 108) during the pandemic. Results indicate that 61.9% of surveyed mothers reported experiencing high levels of stress on the Parental Stressor Scale: NICU. COVID-19-related grief was significantly associated with higher levels of maternal stress, as it related to seeing the baby’s appearance and behavior in the NICU and exposure to sights and sounds within the NICU environment. No significant associations were noted between parental stress and COVID-19-related health worries or worries about resources. Of note, our recruitment relied on convenience sampling, limiting the generalizability of study results. In conclusion, mothers who experience COVID-19-related grief appear to be more vulnerable to NICU-related stress. Prioritizing parent involvement and enhancing psychosocial support are essential strategies to mitigate the long-term consequences of heightened stress for NICU families. MDPI 2022-02-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8870163/ /pubmed/35204971 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020251 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Erdei, Carmina Feldman, Natalie Koire, Amanda Mittal, Leena Liu, Cindy Hsin Ju COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title | COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title_full | COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title_fullStr | COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title_short | COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences and Maternal Stress in Neonatal Intensive Care Units |
title_sort | covid-19 pandemic experiences and maternal stress in neonatal intensive care units |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8870163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204971 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020251 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT erdeicarmina covid19pandemicexperiencesandmaternalstressinneonatalintensivecareunits AT feldmannatalie covid19pandemicexperiencesandmaternalstressinneonatalintensivecareunits AT koireamanda covid19pandemicexperiencesandmaternalstressinneonatalintensivecareunits AT mittalleena covid19pandemicexperiencesandmaternalstressinneonatalintensivecareunits AT liucindyhsinju covid19pandemicexperiencesandmaternalstressinneonatalintensivecareunits |