Correlation between the General Health and Self-efficacy of Mothers with Premature Neonates

The birth of a premature neonate and separation from the family due to hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit lead to tension in the parents, especially the mother. The aim of the present study was to determine the correlation between general health and self-efficacy of mothers with premature neonates admitted to the hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

This descriptive-correlational study was performed on 100 mothers whose premature neonates were hospitalized in NICUs of Hafez, Namazi and Hazrat Zeinab hospitals in Shiraz City in 2018.
Data were collected through demographic, self-efficacy and general health questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS 25 software. The correlation between general health and self-efficacy of mothers was measured using Pearson correlation test.

The mean scores of mothers’ self-efficacy and general health were 63.60±13.17 and 28.13±16.96, respectively. 50% of the mothers had no general health problem. 31%, 11% and 8% of the mothers suffered from mild, moderate and sever levels of general health problem. The correlation between the mean scores of general health (r=-0.903) and its subscales with the mean score of mothers' self-efficacy was inverse and significant (p<0.001).

There is an inverse correlation between mothers' self-efficacy and their general health. Therefore, with the increase of physical problems, anxiety, social isolation and depression, their self-efficacy decreases.