Evaluation of the stress and psychometric characteristics of parents of children treated in the pediatric intensive care unit

Pediatric intensive care units are units where children in critical condition between the ages of 1 month and 18 are monitored and treated. Families whose children are treated in intensive care have difficulty coping with the process due to the problems the child experiences during treatment. This research was conducted as a cross-sectional descriptive study to evaluate the stress and psychometric characteristics of the parents of children treated in the pediatric intensive care unit. This research was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study. The research was conducted between January 2023 and May 2023 at the Martyr Muhammad al-Musawi children's hospital in Nasiriyah city, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. The sample consisted of 132 mothers and fathers whose children were hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Mohammed Al-Mousawi Children's Hospital.Sociodemographic Form, Arabic version of the Parent Stress Scale was used as a data collection tool.In evaluating the data; number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Independent Sample t-test, One-Way Anova tests were used. Pearson correlation test was used to examine the relationship between variables. It was examined whether the data were normally distributed or not. The values of the two groups were compared according to normality with Student's t-test and ANOVA tests.Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis Test were used to analyze quantitative data. In the study, p values less than 0.05 were considered significant. In the research, the mean age of the children was 2.67± 2.96; The mean age of the parents was 29.52 ± 6.81.In the research, it was determined that the gender of the children of the parents was 64.4% male, the rate of parents with two children was 28.8%, the rate of those with sufficient economic status was 40.9%, the parents were 83.3% working, 34.8% of the parents' educational status was literate, and 79.5% of the forms were filled in by the mother.The proportion of parents who experienced minimal stress due to bloating depending on the appearance of the child was 34.8%; The proportion of those who were very stressed in case of color change was 37.9%; The rate of those who experienced moderate stress when the child was cold was found to be 37.1%. In general, it was found that the stress level of parents was moderate.According to the sub-dimensions of the scale, the parents' appearance of the child, Images and sounds, Procedures are very stressful for the parents; Professional staff communication, Child's behavior and emotions, Professional staff behavior, Parental roles were identified as moderately stressful. Health personnel should regularly inform parents about the child's health status to reduce the stress of parents whose child is in the neonatal intensive care unit. Parents should be evaluated psychologically and, when necessary, supported by a psychologist, family counselor or social worker other than a nurse.It is of great importance to determine the needs of parents in this process and reduce their stress level. Parents' needs or sources of stress should be identified by health professionals, especially to reduce parents' stress levels.