Posttraumatic stress among mothers of very low birthweight infants at 6 months after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit

Nancy Feeley; Phyllis Zelkowitz; Carole Cormier; Lyne Charbonneau; Annie Lacroix; Apostolos Papageorgiou

doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2009.04.004

Posttraumatic stress among mothers of very low birthweight infants at 6 months after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit

Appl Nurs Res. 2011 May;24(2):114-7. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2009.04.004. Epub 2009 Sep 18.

Authors

Nancy Feeley¹, Phyllis Zelkowitz, Carole Cormier, Lyne Charbonneau, Annie Lacroix, Apostolos Papageorgiou

Affiliation

¹ Centre for Nursing Research, Québec, Canada. nancy.feeley@mcgill.ca

PMID: 20974070
DOI: 10.1016/j.apnr.2009.04.004

Abstract

This correlational study examined how mother's posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are related to characteristics of the mother and her infant, as well as to mother-infant interaction and infant development, in 21 mothers of very low birthweight infants. Twenty-three percent of mothers scored in the clinical range on a measure of PTSD. How ill the infant was during the NICU hospitalization was related to mothers' PTSD symptoms. Mothers with greater PTSD symptoms were less sensitive and effective at structuring interaction with their infant.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Very Low Birth Weight*
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal*
Mothers / psychology*
Patient Discharge*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology*