Investigation of the relationship between anxiety and depression levels of mothers of hospitalized children

Investigation of the Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression Levels of Mothers of Hospitalized Children Objective: This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between anxiety and depression levels of mothers of hospitalized children. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out with 160 mothers, whose children were hospitalized in the pediatric service of Cengiz Gökçek Maternity and Child's Hospital, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Health and located in the city center of Gaziantep, and agreed to participate in the study. Family Information Form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used as data collection tools. Statistical analysis of the study conducted using the survey model, which is a quantitative research technique, was carried out using the SPSS software. In the analysis of the data, Pearson Correlation Analysis, Student's t-test and One-Way Analysis of Variance were used. Results: It was determined that the age of the mothers whose children were hospitalized, the birth order of children and the economic conditions did not affect anxiety, experiencing problems during pregnancy did not affect depression, and the gender of the hospitalized child did not affect depression and anxiety. It was determined that the anxiety and depression levels of the mothers who had a planned pregnancy were low, and only the anxiety level of the mothers who experienced problems during pregnancy was low. It was determined that as the duration of hospitalization of the children increased, the level of depression and anxiety experienced by the mother increased, and as the economic level decreased, the level of depression by the mother increased. Conclusion: In the study, it was determined that there was a significant positive correlation between the depression and anxiety scores of the mothers whose children were hospitalized. It was revealed that as the level of depression increased, the level of anxiety also increased. Keywords: Hospital, child, mother, depression, anxiety.