Association Between Parents’ Perspective on Pain Management with Parents’ Stressors of Newborns Hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Infant pain is the most stressful experience for parents. Additionally, the changing role of parents in protecting the baby and their lack of knowledge on how to help their child in the intensive care unit (ICU( is another source of stress for parents. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate parents’ perspectives on pain management and its association with the stressors experienced by parents of newborns hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Methods: This research is a descriptive correlational study. A convenience sampling method was used for the selection of 180 participants. Data collection tools included a demographic characteristics questionnaire, the Parental Stressor Scale (PSS), and the Pain Questionnaire for Neonatal Intensive Care. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran, and reliability was α = 0.83. Pearson’s correlation, chi-square, and analysis of variance tests were used for data analysis. Results: Findings indicated a significant difference among subscales of parental stressors (P = 0.047). According to parents’ views, the mean pain score felt by the infant was 3.74 ± 3.03. There was a significant relationship between the maximum amount of pain during the admission of the newborn and parental stress (r = 0.43, P < 0.01). Also the findings show significant relationship between worrying about urgent medical problems when the baby has pain (P = 0.04), receiving information about pain (P = 0.04), use pain relief methods (P = 0.05), reducing the baby’s pain with medication (P = 0.003), supporting the staff (P = 0.05), and being next to baby when it is in pain (P = 0.03) with parental stressors in NICU. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that pain is one of the sources of parental stress in NICUs. Educating parents on the symptoms of infant pain and involving them in pain management can help reduce parental stress.