State Anxiety in Mothers with Vulnerable Neonates Who Give Birth by Caesarean Section

Giving birth to a vulnerable neonate and admission of a newborn to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) could provoke huge stress and anxiety in mother. The aim of this study was to assess state a nxiety in mothers with vulnerable neonates who give birth by cesarean section. In this cross-sectional study, 99 mothers with high risk neonate after their cesarean section and hospitalized in Jamee Women Hospital and Vali Asr Hospital in Tehran city were recruited by convenience sampling. Data was collected by Spielberger State Anxiety Inventoryv (STAI) and analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square test, Pearson correlation coefficient and simple linear regression analysis using SPSS-PC (V.16). A considerable percentage of the mothers had severe state anxiety (69.7%), and the mean score of their anxiety was 57.8 ± 7. Pearson correlation coefficient showed a negative indirect linear correlation between anxiety and age (r= - 0.246), (P=0.014). However, t here was no significant relationship between state anxiety and other background variables. According to the findings it seems necessary for nurses and midwives in maternity wards to apply strategies by to reduce state anxiety in this group of mothers.