The impact of nurse support on the anxiety levels of parents of hospitalized children

This descriptive and cross-sectional study aims to examine the impact of nurse support provided to parents of hospitalized children on the parents' anxiety levels. The study population consists of the parents of 567 pediatric patients who were admitted to Kırklareli Training and Research Hospital and Lüleburgaz State Hospital in 2023 for at least one year. The sample was calculated as 229 and the research was conducted with 232 people. Data were collected face-to-face using an introductory information form, the Nurse Parent Support Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory between January 20, 2023, and June 20, 2023. The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20. Descriptive statistics provided include arithmetic mean ± standard deviation, frequency, and percentage distributions. For intergroup comparisons, the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Spearman's Rank Correlation test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk normality tests, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and variance analysis were utilized. The average age of the parents was 31.56±6.88; It was determined that 81% of them were women and 90.5% were married. In the study, the mean score of the Nurse Parent Support Scale was 86.78±15.64; The State Anxiety Scale mean score was calculated as 35.59±8.80 and the Trait Anxiety Scale mean score was calculated as 34.99±9.45. It was observed that as the nurse support given to parents increased, state and trait anxiety levels decreased significantly. The nursing support provided to parents during their child's hospitalization is a vital component of nursing practice. When nurses provide support to parents of hospitalized children, it has been observed that the parents' anxiety levels decrease and they manage the hospitalization process more effectively. Key words: Anxiety, Support, Parents, Hospitalized child, Nurses