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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Erdei, Carmina, Feldman, Natalie, Koire, Amanda, Mittal, Leena, Liu, Cindy Hsin Ju
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