Abstract
This prospective cohort study was conducted at our tertiary care center from October, 2021 to April, 2022 to compare the parents’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay and at 3 months follow-up. Pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL) family impact module questionnaires were used in 46 mothers and 39 fathers during NICU stay, and 42 mothers and 38 fathers at 3-month follow-up. Greater proportions of mothers were severely affected and had higher stress levels as compared to fathers both during NICU stay (67.3% vs 48.7%) and at 3 months follow-up (62.7% vs 52.6%). Among the mothers, there was a significant improvement in individual and family functioning median (IQR) HRQL scores at 3-month follow-up [62 (48–83) vs 71(63–79)]. However, the proportion of mothers severely affected remained the same at NICU stay and 3-month follow-up (67.3% vs 62.7%).
Keywords: Anxiety, Childcare, Stress, Outcome
Footnotes
Ethics clearance
Institutional ethical committee of Fernandez Hospital; No. EC Ref No 41–2022, dated Oct 25, 2022.
Contributors
SH, PG, AS: collected and compiled the data for the study, and drafted the manuscript: SK: conceptualized and designed the study, and finalized the manuscript. TP, VV: provided intellectual inputs from the protocol stage and helped in drafting the paper. The final version of the manuscript was approved by all authors.
Funding
None
Competing interests
None stated.
References
- 1.Ionio C, Mascheroni E, Colombo C, et al. Stress and feelings in mothers and fathers in NICU: Identifying risk factors for early interventions. Prim Health Care Res Dev. 2019;20:e81. doi: 10.1017/S1463423619000021. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Prouhet PM, Gregory MR, Russell CL, Yaeger LH. Fathers’ stress in the neonatal intensive care unit: A systematic review. Adv Neonatal Care. 2018;18:105–20. doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000472. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Varni JW, Sherman SA, Burwinkle TM, et al. The PedsQL family impact module: Preliminary reliability and validity. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2004;2:55. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-2-55. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Varni JW. Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™). Distributed by Mapi Research Trust. Accessed on Sep 10, 2022. Available from: https://eprovide.mapi-trust.org/instruments/pediatric-quality-of-life-inventory#e_version
- 5.McAndrew S, Acharya K, Westerdahl J, et al. A prospective study of parent health-related quality of life before and after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. J Pediatr. 2019;213:38–45.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.05.067. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Dunkel Schetter C, Tanner L. Anxiety, depression and stress in pregnancy: implications for mothers, children, research, and practice. Curr Opin Psych. 2012;25:141–8. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e3283503680. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 7.Upadhyay RP, Chowdhury R, Salehi A, et al. Postpartum depression in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ. 2017;95:706–17C. doi: 10.2471/BLT.17.192237. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 8.Melnyk BM, Feinstein NF. Reducing hospital expenditures with the COPE (creating opportunities for parent empowerment) program for parents and premature infants: An analysis of direct healthcare neonatal intensive care unit costs and savings. Nurs Adm Q. 2009;33:32–7. doi: 10.1097/01.NAQ.0000343346.47795.13. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 9.Narang A, Kiran PS, Kumar P. Cost of neonatal intensive care in a tertiary care center. Indian Pediatr. 2005;42:989–97. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10.Noergaard B, Ammentorp J, Garne E, et al. Fathers’ stress in a neonatal intensive care unit. Adv Neonatal Care. 2018;18:413–22. doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000000503. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]