The Effects of Providing a Concrete-Objective Information Program Before the First Visit on the Anxiety of Mothers of Premature Infants in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Visiting sick newborns in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) may cause their mothers anxiety, therefore, providing information is important. This quasi-experimental, two groups pre-posttest, research aimed to study the effect of providing a concrete-objective information program before the mothers’ first visit to premature infants in NICU on maternal anxiety. Participants were 32 mothers of premature infants. They were selected using purposive sampling and then assigned into either the experimental or comparison group (16 mothers per group). Mothers in the experimental group attended a maternal preparation program with concrete-choice information prior to their first visit. Whereas, those in the comparison group received normal routine nursing care. The research instruments for data collection included the Individual Characteristic Questionnaire and the Maternal Anxiety Assessment Form. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, dependent t-tests, and independent t- tests. The results revealed that the mean anxiety score of the experimental group after attending the program was significantly lower than that before, t(15) = 2.71, p < .001, d = 1.01 and that it was significantly lower than in the control group t(30) = 2.55, p < .001, d = 0.90.  In conclusion, providing the maternal preparation program with concrete-multiple choice information prior to a mother’s first infant visit can help reduce the mother’s anxiety. Therefore, nurses should formulate cooperative guidelines to provide the concrete-multiple choice information to prepare mothers before visiting their infants in the NICU.