A Study to Assess the Level of Stress and Coping Strategies among Mothers of Preterm Infants Admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Selected Hospital, Puducherry

Stress in human life includes tension, anxiety, worry and pressure. It is an accepted fact that stress is necessary for life and it can be either beneficial or detrimental. Stress is the tension producing factors that have the potential of weakening the normal lines of defense, which is divided into physical, physiological, emotional, cognitive, psychological and parental, economical domains. Coping is the cognitive and behavioral efforts used to manage external and internal stressful demands that are appraised to be exceeding the resources of the persons. The birth of a child can represent a significant transition for most families and requires establishment of new family roles and routines. The birth of a child with a critical illness, however, creates unanticipated crises, alters family patterns in ways that are stressful and makes coping demands for dealing with a critical child more pronounced for the family system. How families respond to stress will depend on the interaction of multiple factors such as economic and social stability of the family and its internal support system, and the amount of external support to which the family has access. A quantitative research approach was selected for this study. The study was conducted at selected hospital, Puducherry. The target population is 30. The study consists of the all the motherss of preterm newborns admitted in NICU. Purposive sampling technique was selected for this study. The Sample size of the study consist of 30 motherss of preterm newborns. Research variables include age, religion, occupation, education status, income, residence, religion, number of children, admission condition, number of days hospitalized. Three point likert scale was selected for the study and it was considered to be the most appropriate instrument to elicit the stress and coping strategies of motherss of preterm newborns admitted in NICU. RESULT: From the study it was concluded that 3.33% of motherss had mild stress, 63.33% of motherss had moderate stress and 33.33% of motherss had severe stress. 9.99% of motherss had mild coping, 20% of motherss had moderate coping, 23.33% of motherss had poor coping.