Volume : 9, Issue : 7, July - 2020

Psychological morbidity and coping strategy in parents of neonates admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Ms. Himani Suyal, Dr. Achinta Kr Mallick, Ms. Rajkumari Sylvia, Ms. Vandana Chauhan

Abstract :

Neonatal admission to NICU has negative impact on psychological health of parents. Although they try to adapt, presence of stress, anxiety and depression may interfere their coping skills. An attempt was made to evaluate the level of stress, anxiety, depression, coping strategies of parents of babies admitted in NICU and to determine the association of psychological health & coping with socio-demographic variables, at a teaching hospital in Dehradun in a Cross-sectional hospital based study. Psychological health was assessed by depression, anxiety & stress scale (DASS) tool among 64 parents. Psychological morbidity was high among parents. 23.4% had moderate to severe stress, 98.4% had moderate to severe anxiety and 81.2% had moderate to severe depression. 90.6% parents had good coping. There was a strong association of higher income parents with good psychological health (P=0.032), male child with good coping skill (P=0.003), and strong negative correlation of psychological health with coping (P=0.01).