A Comparison of Two Stress-Reduction Treatments for Mothers of Neonates Hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Thirty mothers of preterm infants requiring neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization were assigned randomly to one of three groups to assess differences in treatment effectiveness of facilitating parental adaptation to the NICU stresses Groups consisted of (a) a treatment group receiving videotape training in active problem-focused coping strategies, (b) a treatment group receiving videotape training in emotion-focused strategies to help manage anxiety, and (c) a control group receiving promotional information about the hospital and the NICU On pretreatment measures most of the mothers exhibited little distress, a finding unlike those for the majority of NICU studies On posttreatment follow-up both the problem-focused and emotion-focused treatment groups were significantly less anxious than the controls and lower levels of depression were observed for the emotion-focused group Findings suggest that the coping interventions examined were cost efficient and appear promising in facilitating mothers’ coping with NICU.