The Effect of Narrative Writing of Mothers on Their Stress with Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Objective: The birth of a premature infant and hospitalization in the intensive care unit causes the emergence of many crises and stresses for mothers. In this respect, narrative writing is as a method of counseling to reduce motherschr('39') stress. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of the effect of mother’s narrative writing on the stress of mothers of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was performed on mothers of infants admitted to the intensive care unit by simple random sampling in two intervention and control groups. The data collection tool was the standard stress questionnaire of the mothers of hospitalized infants (Miles and Funk, 1998). Information was collected before and after the intervention in both intervention and control groups after obtaining informed written consent. In the intervention group, based on the trainings given, the mother recorded her daily incidents and events 3 times a day for 10-20 minutes. The control group also received routine nursing care. Data analysis was performed using SPSS21 statistical software and descriptive statistics (table, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (paired t-test, independent t-test, Fisher test, ANKAWA test). Findings: The mean of stress in the intervention group before the intervention was 97.43 + 2.66 and in the control group was 95.26 +5.76. The stress ratio of mothers after the intervention in the intervention group was 84.9 +5.35 and in the control group was 87.1 +5.25. Covariance test showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (P = 0.03 and Eta = 0.07), so that 7% of stress reduction changes are related to motherschr('39') narrative writing. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that narrative writing as an effective supportive intervention has an important role in reducing the stress of mothers of infants admitted to the intensive care unit. Therefore, this treatment method can be used as an effective and low-cost intervention in nursing care in the neonatal ward.