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Mothers and fathers in NICU: The impact of preterm birth on parental distress
Open accessAbstract
Preterm birth is a stressful event for families. In particular, the unexpectedly early delivery may cause negative feelings in mothers and fathers. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between preterm birth, parental stress and negative feelings, and the environmental setting of NICU. 21 mothers (age = 36.00 ± 6.85) and 19 fathers (age = 34.92 ± 4.58) of preterm infants (GA = 30.96 ± 2.97) and 20 mothers (age = 40.08 ± 4.76) and 20 fathers (age = 40.32 ± 6.77) of full-term infants (GA = 39.19 ± 1.42) were involved. All parents filled out the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Impact of Event Scale Revised, Profile of Mood States, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Post-Partum Bonding Questionnaire. Our data showed differences in emotional reactions between preterm and full-term parents. Results also revealed significant differences between mothers and fathers' responses to preterm birth in terms of stress, negative feelings, and perceptions of social support. A correlation between negative conditions at birth (e.g., birth weight and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay) and higher scores in some scales of Impact of Event Scale Revised, Profile of Mood States and Post-Partum Bonding Questionnaire were found. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may be a stressful place both for mothers and fathers. It might be useful to plan, as soon as possible, interventions to help parents through the experience of the premature birth of their child and to begin an immediately adaptive mode of care.
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“Since mothers often spend more time in the NICU and experience immediate trauma, maternal postpartum depression is a strong predictor of paternal anxiety and depression [59].”
From Fathers at risk: Effects of threatened and actual preterm birth on the course of paternal peripartum depression and anxiety (2026) · cites this paper as [59]
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Cites
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ionio, C., Colombo, C., Brazzoduro, V., Mascheroni, E., Confalonieri, E., Castoldi, F., & Lista, G.
- Affiliations
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT)
- Ospedale dei Bambini Vittore Buzzi (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Ionio, Chiara
- ORCID
- Venue
- Europe’s Journal of Psychology
- Published
- 2016-11-18
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 604-621
- ISSN
- 1841-0413 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5114875
- OpenAlex
- W2550032293
- Cited by
- 347
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 23.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Europe’s Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- PsychOpen Gold (Leibniz Institute for Psychology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Psychology Archives (cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- preterm birth, parental stress, parents, neonatal intensive care unit, negative emotions, perceived social support, postpartum bonding, birth weight, term infants, family stress
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