Post-traumatic growth in parents after infants' neonatal intensive care unit hospitalisation

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To determine the incidence and severity of post-traumatic growth in a group of parents of children hospitalised in the intensive care unit in the past.

Background: A premature birth or a birth with life-threatening conditions is a traumatic event for the parents and may lead to a number of changes, some of which are positive, known as post-traumatic growth.

Method: The survey covered 106 parents of 67 infants aged 3-12 months. An original questionnaire and standardised research tools were used in the study: Impact Event Scale - Revised, Perceived Stress Scale, COPE Inventory: Positive Reinterpretation and Growth, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, Post-traumatic Growth Inventory and Parent and Infant Characteristic Questionnaire.

Results: Due to a stepwise backward variables selection, we found three main factors that explain post-traumatic growth: post-traumatic stress symptoms, positive reinterpretation and growth and dichotomic variable infants' survival. This model explained 29% of the post-traumatic growth variation. Similar models that were considered separately for mothers and fathers showed no significantly better properties.

Conclusion: Post-traumatic growth was related to a lesser extent to sociodemographic variables or the stressor itself, and related to a far greater extent to psychological factors.

Relevance to clinical practice: Our study highlights the fact that post-traumatic growth in the parents of neonates hospitalised in the neonatal intensive care units remains under-evaluated.

Keywords: neonatal intensive care unit; post-traumatic growth; post-traumatic stress disorder; traumatic stress.