The role of relegion in coping with the problems of the mothers in the neonatal i̇ntensive care unit

The main purpose of this study is to determine the problems of mothers whose infants are hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and how they try to cope with these problems, the religious coping styles they use in this process, and whether they need spiritual support or not. In this research, semi-structured interview technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was applied. The study was conducted between November 2018-December 2018 with 15 mothers whose babies were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital. Interviews were conducted at the "Mother Hotel" which was held to accommodate NICU mothers within the hospital. Interview questions were prepared considering that the participants were in the postpartum period and expressions that would make them more emotional were avoided. Descriptive analysis method was used in the evaluation of the obtained data. The results of the study revealed that most of the participants perceived the process as a stressful phenomenon. Participants used religion as a reference in order to make sense of this situation and the frequency of prayer was increased mostly. It was found that the mothers who participated in the study used positive religious coping styles more than negative religious coping styles. It was also found that participants who use negative religious coping styles question whether they have been punished for their past mistakes and their stress levels are higher than others. Mothers whose babies are in the NICU need the support of their spouses and families more than ever in this process; they want to talk, relax, morale and motivation; they needed spiritual support.