Stress and spirituality of premature baby mothers

Abstract

During this hospitalization baby requires NICUs, the mother is prevented from carrying out the first care with her baby.  This event can influence on a bond building as well as generating potential maternal stress during the postpartum period. Regarding the different ways of responding to crisis situations; spirituality has been pointed out in the literature due to its beneficial results on coping with stress. To understand the meaning of the spiritual dimension as an emotional mediator of mothers of premature infants. A cross – sectional and descriptive study with quantitative / qualitative analysis. Twelve mothers whose babies were hospitalized in the ICU-Neonatal due to prematurity participated in this study. For data collection, Sociodemographic Questionnaire; PSS Scale (NICU), an Assessment of Spirituality Scale and an interview mediated qualitative. The mean age of the mothers was 29 years, 42% had finished high school, 75% worked outside, 42% reported themselves Catholic, 58% married and 50% with current gestational age between 28 and 32 weeks. About the newborns, 58% were males, 42% weighed at birth between 1 kg and 1.300 kg, 50% were between 5 and 15 days of hospitalization, and 58% of moderate prematurity. The results of the PSS Scale: NICU indicated a high level of stress in the Mother / Father Role Change subscale. The assessment of Spirituality in Health Environments   showed that all mothers relied on their spiritual beliefs. According to the analysis of the statements, 7 categories of meanings were highlighted: hope and optimism, search for meaning, spiritual support, social / religious support, gratitude, dialogue with the divine and personal growth. Although most of mothers has experienced stress due to the distance from her child during hospitalization in a NICU, spirituality has been contributing  as a factor to reduce the impact caused by stress.