effects of stress on mothers of hospitalized children in a hospital in iran

how to cite this article: hasan tehrani t, haghighi m, bazmamoun h. effects of stress on mothers of hospitalized children in a hospital in iran. iran j child neurol autumn 2012;6(4):39-45. abstract objective hospitalization of a child can cause severe anxiety and stress in the parents, especially for the mother. this stress consequently affects the treatment course of the child. hereby, we investigate the impact of different stressors in mothers of hospitalized children. materials & methods in this cross-sectional study, 225 mothers of hospitalized children in the pediatric ward of besat hospital were randomly selected and studied. data collection tool was a two-part questionnaire gathered by interviewing the mother. the first part included demographic information of the patients. the second part included questions regarding stressors in four different categories; child-related factors, environmental factors, socioeconomic factors and health professional factors. spss 16.5 was used for statistical analysis and data were analyzed by one way anova and t test. results in the child-related factor category, fear of child death (84%); in the socioeconomic factor category, fear of disease in the other siblings (84%); in the environmental factor category, unpleasant odors in the ward (56%); and in the health professional category, not enough explanation about inserting iv lines, (54.2%) constituted the most important factors. there was a meaningful correlation between the stressors and the mothers’ age and occupation, child age, days of hospitalization, types of admission and health insurance coverage, but there was no meaningful correlation between stressors and other factors. conclusion professional and in depth training programs should be provided for health care providers and nursing staff regarding dealing with mothers of hospitalized children.   references: marilyn jh, david w. wong's essentials of pediatric nursing. 8th ed. canada: mosby; 2008. p. 659. commodari e. children staying in hospital: a research on psychological stress of caregivers. ital j pediatr. 2010 may 25;36:40. burke so, handley-derry mh, costello ea, kauffmann e, dillon mc. stress-point intervention for parents of children of repeatedly hospitalized children with chronic conditions. res nurs health. 1997 dec;20(6): 475-85. kristensson-hallstrom i. parental participation in pediatric surgical care. aorn j. 2000 may;71(5): 1021-4, 1026-9. garro a, thurman sk, kerwin me, ducette jp. parent/caregiver stress during pediatric hospitalization for chronic feeding problems. j pediatr nurs. 2005 aug;20(4):268-75. shields l, kristensson-hallström  i. we have needs, too: parental needs during a child’s hospitalisation. online brazilian journal of nursing (objn-issn 1676-4285) [online] 2004  december; 3(3) available in: www.uff.br/nepae/objn303shieldsetal.htm. hallstrom i, runesson i, elander g. obeserved parental needs during their child’s hospitalization. j pediatr nurs. 2002 apr;17(2):140-8. little l. differences in stress and coping for mothers and fathers of childrens with aspergers syndrome and nonverbal learning disorders. pediatr nurs. 2002 nov-dec;28(6):565-70. soderback m, christensson k. family involvement in the care of a hospitalized child. int j nurs stud. 2008 dec;45(12):1778-88. mwangi r, chandler c, nasuwa f, mbakilwa h, poulsen a, bygbjerg ic et al. perceptions of mothers and hospital staff paediatric care in 13 public hospitals in northern tanzania. trans r soc trop med hyg. 2008 aug;102(8):805-10. chilman am, thomas m. understanding nursing care. third edition. edinburgh: churchill livingstone; 1987. p. 636. esmaeilzadeh h. stressors of mothers of hospitalized neonates in qods hospital jqums. 2003;6(4):40-5. miles ms, burchinal p, holditch-davis d, brunssen s, wilson sm. perceptions of stress, worry and support in black and white mothers of hospitalized, medically fragile infants. j pediatr nurs. 2002 apr;17(2):82-8. lam lw, chang am, morrissey j. parents’ experiences of participation in the care of hospitalized children: a qualitative study. int j nurs stud. 2006 jul;43(5):535-45.