Stress and Anxiety Levels of Mothers Lying in the Baby Newborn Intensive Care Unit

Overview

Although coronaviruses (CoV) cause mild infections in the community, such as colds, they can also cause more severe infections. There are many subspecies of coronaviruses that can pass from animals to humans and can be transmitted between humans. One of these subspecies is COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), SARS-CoV-2, and has made a worldwide pandemic from the beginning of 2020. In this process, going out of the house, going to the hospital and being in the hospital brings with it the anxiety to get sick. In the period when the feeling of motherhood begins at the end of birth, the hospitalization of the baby for any reason and the separation of the mother and the baby can be an additional source of stress. This study was planned to determine the anxiety and anxiety levels of mothers who had a baby in the NICU during Coronavirus disease pandemic and the factors affecting them.

Although coronaviruses (CoV) cause mild infections in the community, such as colds, they can also cause more severe infections. There are many subspecies of coronaviruses that can pass from animals to humans and can be transmitted between humans. One of these subspecies is COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), or SARS-CoV-2, and has made a worldwide pandemic from the beginning of 2020. Many countries are taking measures to protect everyone, including those in the risk group, to prevent disease in large groups and balance hospital bed capacities against the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these measures; There is an incentive for public health practices such as contact isolation, quarantine, frequent hand washing, not going out of the house unless needed, and social distance. In the investigator's country, preventive and therapeutic measures (such as quarantine, social distance) are taken against the COVID-19 pandemic and the public is constantly informed in this context. In this process, going out of the house, going to the hospital and being in the hospital brings with it the anxiety to get sick. Despite all these, there are compulsory situations requiring people to be in the hospital during the pandemic period. One of them is to give birth and then the baby stays in the hospital due to the need for intensive care. Although it is a pleasant feeling for women who have just given birth to feel the feeling of motherhood, to embrace the baby, to attach it to the baby, adapting to the new situation with the accompanying responsibilities can force the mother psychologically In the period when the feeling of motherhood begins, the hospitalization of the baby for any reason and the separation of the mother and the baby may be an additional source of stress. The fact that this process is experienced during the pandemic period can increase the anxiety and stress in the mother much more. It is important for nurses to determine the needs of mothers whose babies are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during their pandemic, in order to reduce their anxiety and anxiety by applying appropriate nursing approach. This study was planned to determine the anxiety and anxiety levels of mothers who had a baby in the NICU during Coronavirus disease pandemic and the factors affecting them.