Psychological Wellbeing of Parents with Infants Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Participants
2.3. Data Collection
- (1)
- (2)
- The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [22] measures symptoms of anxiety in adults. It consists of two sub-scales of 20 items respectively evaluating “state anxiety” (STAI-S anxiety in a specific situation) and “trait anxiety” (STAI-T anxiety as a general trait). Each item is based on four levels of response. A score from 40 to 50 indicates mild anxiety, 51 to 60 moderate anxiety, and >60 severe anxiety.
- (3)
- The Parental Stressor Scale: NICU (PSS: NICU) [23,24] measures stress experienced by parents during hospitalization related to parental role alteration (PRA), infant behavior and appearance (IBA), and sights and sounds of the unit (SS). Parents are asked to rate items on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all stressful) to 5 (extremely stressful). An item on perceived overall parental stress is also present.
- (4)
- An ad hoc questionnaire has been developed to assess the COVID-19 related parental stress. The tool, shown in Supplementary Table S1, consists of two items asking to be answered on a Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely) and one item considering the presence or absence of 10 stress factors plus an additional one that the respondents can express (other). The instrument focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of stress, on the experience of becoming parent. The questions were designed based on the literature [25,26] and clinical experience. The score ranges from 2 to 21. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected through a crosscheck between parents’ reports and medical records.
2.4. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | N (%) or Median (IQR) | |
---|---|---|
Parents (n = 44) | Parent: | |
Mothers | 25 (67) | |
Father | 19 (43) | |
Age, years | 35 (32–39) | |
Education level: | ||
Primary or middle school | 12 (27) | |
High school | 18 (41) | |
University | 14 (32) | |
Number of pregnancies: | ||
One pregnancy | 28 (64) | |
Two pregnancies | 16 (36) | |
Visits to the infant in the NICU, n | 8 (5–14) | |
STAI state | 42 (37–51) | |
STAI state: | ||
<40 | 20 (46) | |
40–50 | 12 (27) | |
51–60 | 8 (18) | |
>60 | 4 (9) | |
STAI trait | 40 (35–46) | |
STAI trait: | ||
<40 | 22 (50) | |
40–50 | 18 (41) | |
51–60 | 3 (7) | |
>60 | 1 (2) | |
EPDS | 9 (7–12) | |
EPDS ≥ 13 | 10 (23) | |
PSS-SS | 1.7 (1.5–2.4) | |
PSS-IBA | 1.7 (1.4–2.3) | |
PSS-PRA | 2.9 (2.3–3.7) | |
PSS-perceived stress item | 3 (3–4) | |
PSS-total score | 2.2 (1.8–2.7) | |
Infants (n = 25) | Gestational age, weeks | 34 (31–35) |
Birth weight, grams | 2185 (1480–3100) | |
Age at parental psychological screening, days | 13 (8–14) | |
Perinatal information (n = 25) | Conception: | |
Spontaneous | 20 (80) | |
Medically assisted | 5 (20) | |
Pregnancy: | ||
Singleton | 22 (88) | |
Twin | 3 (12) | |
Delivery: | ||
Vaginal or elective caesarean | 6 (24) | |
Emergency caesarean | 19 (76) | |
Diagnosis at discharge (n = 25) | RDS + prematurity | 16 (64) |
Sepsis | 3 (12) | |
Asphixia | 2 (8) | |
Prematurity | 2 (8) | |
RDS | 2 (8) |
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Polloni, L.; Cavallin, F.; Lolli, E.; Schiavo, R.; Bua, M.; Volpe, B.; Meneghelli, M.; Baraldi, E.; Trevisanuto, D. Psychological Wellbeing of Parents with Infants Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. Children 2021, 8, 755. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8090755
Polloni L, Cavallin F, Lolli E, Schiavo R, Bua M, Volpe B, Meneghelli M, Baraldi E, Trevisanuto D. Psychological Wellbeing of Parents with Infants Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. Children. 2021; 8(9):755. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8090755
Chicago/Turabian StylePolloni, Laura, Francesco Cavallin, Elisabetta Lolli, Rossana Schiavo, Martina Bua, Biancarosa Volpe, Marta Meneghelli, Eugenio Baraldi, and Daniele Trevisanuto. 2021. "Psychological Wellbeing of Parents with Infants Admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic" Children 8, no. 9: 755. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8090755