Emotional State of Mothers of Premature Newborns with Intraventricular Cerebral Hemorrhages in the Intensive Care Unit

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Abstract

This article presents the results of a study of the emotional state and stress of mothers attending their premature infants with structural intracranial changes at the stage of their stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, sociodemographic characteristics of the family, and the relationship between the studied indicators. Sample. The study included 77 mothers (age M±SD=32,1±4,7 years) of prematurely born children (gestational age 28,3±3,1 weeks; birth weight 1186±499 g; 40 boys). Methods. To assess the emotional state and stress of the mothers, the methods of assessing depressive experiences (BDI-II; Beck et al., 1996), anxiety (Spielberger et al., 1983), the Parental Stress Scale (Miles, 1987), and the Heidelberg Family Stress Scale (Sidor et al., 2007) were used. The results of the study indicate that 69,2% of the mothers show a strong level of depressive experiences, 29,3% show a moderate level, and 1,5% show a weak level. 63,5% of mothers are found to have high and 33% have moderate values of reactive anxiety, 42% have high and 52% have moderate values of personality anxiety. About 88% of mothers cite a feeling of helplessness from not being able to protect their child from painful procedures or from not knowing how to help their child during this period of his or her life as a source of stress. Characteristics of emotional state and different types of maternal family stress were shown to be associated with socio-demographic characteristics of the family, but were not significantly associated with indicators of newborn health status and type of treatment.

General Information

Keywords: preterm infants, caregivers, intraventricular hemorrhages, emotional state, depression, anxiety, stress, early care, mental health

Journal rubric: Empirical Researches

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2024320202

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 18-013-01183.

Acknowledgements. The authors thank the staff of City Children Multidisciplinary Specialized Clinical Center of High Medical Technologies for their assistance in collecting data for the study.

Received: 01.02.2024

Accepted:

For citation: Andrushchenko N.V., Mukhamedrahimov R.Z., Kriukov E.Y. Emotional State of Mothers of Premature Newborns with Intraventricular Cerebral Hemorrhages in the Intensive Care Unit. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya = Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2024. Vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 31–47. DOI: 10.17759/cpp.2024320202. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Nataliia V. Andrushchenko, PhD in Medicine, Associate Professor, Saint Petersburg State University, North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov at the Ministry of Health of Russia, St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1301-1668, e-mail: natvladandr@gmail.com

Rifkat Z. Mukhamedrahimov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of Division of Child and Parent Mental Health and Early Intervention, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Psychology for Research, Saint-Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3532-5019, e-mail: r.muhamedrahimov@spbu.ru

Evgeniy Y. Kriukov, Doctor of Medicine, Professor, North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov at the Ministry of Health of Russia, St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0746-5826, e-mail: e.krukov@mail.ru

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