The Effects of Providing Concrete Objective Information Prior to the Premature Infants’ First Visit in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Mothers’ Knowledge and Stress
Keywords:
Concrete objective information, Knowledge of mother, Stress, Premature infants, Neonatal intensive care unitAbstract
Premature labor has a direct impact on mothers and infants as the infant is immediately separated from the mother and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Sudden changes in circumstances can be stressful for mothers while also requiring knowledge. This quasi-experimental research aimed to study the effects of providing concrete objective information prior to premature infants’ first visit to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on mothers’ knowledge and stress. The sample consisted of 47 mothers, divided into 23 in the control group and 24 in the experimental group. The instruments consisted of a questionnaire on the demographic information of mothers and their infants, a questionnaire on maternal knowledge and stress levels, and a video on concrete objective information. Instrument quality was tested based on the recommendations of five experts. The questionnaires had a content validity index (CVI) of .91. The reliability of mothers’ knowledge yielded a Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) value of .79 while that of stress level, tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, was .95. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and t-test.
The results revealed that mothers who were provided with the concrete objective information prior to their infant’s visit had significantly higher mean knowledge scores (M = 29.58, SD = 3.35) than before receiving the information (M = 25.29, SD = 4.45), and significantly lower mean stress scores (M = 52.33, SD = 19.81) than before receiving the information (M = 64.46, SD = 20.65) (t = 5.682, p < 0.001 and t = 3.593, p < 0.001, respectively). The experimental group had a mean score for knowledge (M = 29.58, SD = 3.35) statistically significantly higher than that of the control group (M = 26.35, SD = 2.62, t = 3.678, p < .001). Also, the experimental group had a mean score of stress (M = 52.33, SD = 19.81) which was statistically significantly lower than that of the control group (M = 74.30, SD = 9.11, t = 4.848, p < .001).
The results of this study show that providing concrete objective information to mothers prior to their premature infant’s first visit will improve knowledge and reduce stress, allowing them to care for their child more effectively.
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