Influence of NICU co-care facilities and skin-to-skin contact on maternal stress in mothers of preterm infants

Objective To investigate the influence of co-care facilities and amount of skin-to-skin contact during Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stay on maternal stress in mothers of preterm infants at two months corrected age. Methods A prospective cohort study that involved 300 mothers of pre-term infants was conducted in four NICUs (two with co-care facilities and two with non co-care) in Sweden. Data on duration of skin-to-skin contact per day for all days admitted to the NICU were collected using self-reports. Maternal stress was measured by the Swedish Parental Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ) at two months of infant’s corrected age. Results Mothers whose infants were cared for in a NICU with co-care facilities reported significantly lower levels of stress in the dimension of ‘incompetence’ compared to mothers whose infants had been cared for in non co-care NICUs. The amount of skin-to-skin experienced during the neonatal stay was not significantly associated with levels of maternal stress at two months corrected age. Conclusion The finding that mothers who do not experience co-care facilities experience greater levels of stress in relation to feelings of incompetence is of concern. Improvements to NICU environments are needed to ensure that mother-infant dyads are not separated