Comparing the Social Support Which Fathers and Mothers of Preterm Infants Receive in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Background: The birth of a preterm infant is a stressful experience for parents. The nurse’s\rsupport for the family of such newborns seems to be important and necessary. This study aimed\rto examine the social support received by the fathers as compared with the mothers of preterm\rinfants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).\rMethods: This was a comparative, descriptive study. The study population included all parents\rof preterm infants hospitalized in the NICUs of 3 educational treatment centers affiliated to\rTehran University of Medical Sciences during the first 6 months of the year 2014. Study sample\rconsisted of 130 couples selected through the convenient sampling method, and data collection\rtool was Tarkan et al. social support questionnaire. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using\rthe Independent t test by SPSS version 20.\rResults: The results showed that the most social support with the mean(SD) score of 69.0(6.3)\rwas received by the mothers, and 57.0(2.3) for fathers was emotional support and the least level\rof social support with the mean score of 80.0(3.3) for the mothers and 65.0(16.3) for fathers was\rtangible support, and mothers with mean score 65.0(52.3) as compared with fathers 56.0(21.3),\rreceived more support in all 3 aspects of social support, i.e. affirmative, tangible, and emotional.\rConclusion: Our findings indicate that parents are desirous of more social support, especially\rwith regard to the tangible support. Therefore, planning is required for promotion and creation of\ropportunities for the nurses to provide more supports to parents at NICUs, especially to fathers\rwho usually receive less support. It is recommended that nurses improve their effective and\rmutual communication and interaction with parents.