Relationships between Stress Experienced by Parents of Hospitalized Infants in NICU and the Infants’ Characteristics

This study addressed the relationships between stress experienced by parents of hospitalized infants in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the infants’ characteristics. 216 parents of at-risk infants in the NICU of two Teaching Hospitals in the SouthEast Zone of Nigeria were selected for the study. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The respondents completed two questionnaires on NICU Parental Stress Scale. A parent – infant demographic sheet was also used to obtain information about the parent and infant characteristics. Mean score, standard deviation and Spearman Rank correlation coefficient (rho) were used to answer the research questions. Chi-Square test statistics was adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.01 level of significance. The infant gestational age and birth weight were observed to be significantly correlated with the stress experienced by the parents over the appearance and behaviour of the NICU infants. Also there were significant differences in parental stress for NICU staff behaviour and communication, the sights and sounds in the NICU as well as NICU infant behaviour and appearance with regard to the infant position in the family.