Anxiety levels of mothers with preterm baby in the neonatal intensive care unit in the COVID-19 pandemic

The research was conducted in a descriptive type to examine the anxiety levels of mothers who had preterm babies in the neonatal intensive care unit during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was conducted with the mothers of 65 preterm infants who were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of a training and research hospital in the city center of Trabzon and met the inclusion criteria. Research data were collected using the Mother-Infant Information Form and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Descriptive statistics, unpaired t Test, One Way Anova Analysis, Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test, Bonferroni and Tamhane tests were used to evaluate the data. It was determined that 53.8% of the mothers participating in the research were under the age of 30, 50.8% had a high school education level and 60% were not working. It was determined that 53.8% of the preterms were late preterm (33-37 gestational week), 41.5% were low birth weight (1500-2500 gr) and 40% were connected to a ventilator. It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the state anxiety of the mothers and the previous abortion history of the mothers, preterm birth week, birth weight, being connected to the ventilator, oral nutrition status, the first place the mother sees the preterm baby, preterm holding and breastfeeding status in the intensive care unit, thinking that they were adequately informed about the preterm disease, mother's first emotion when she saw preterm in the intensive care unit (p<0.05). It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the preterm birth week, birth weight, gender and being connected to the ventilator, and the preterm status (p<0.05). As a result, the state anxiety of mothers with preterm babies was high. In the study, it was determined that the most important factors; affecting the state anxiety of the mothers were the mothers' holding and breastfeeding status in the intensive care unit, thinking that they were adequately informed about the preterm disease, the person from whom the information was received about the preterm status, and the first feeling the mother felt when she saw preterm in the intensive care unit.