Comparison of Stress and Coping Mechanisms of Fathers and Mothers of Children Admitted in The Intensive Care Unit

Parents wish and expect their child to be normal. But when such is not the case, the parents are disturbed emotionally, but their response differs. Hence a descriptive comparative study was conducted to identify the stress and coping of fathers and mothers admitted in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of Christian Medical College, Vellore. Consecutive sampling technique was used to select 50 fathers and 50 mothers. Stress scale developed by the investigator and the modifi ed version of Folkman and Lazarus coping scale were used to collect the data using interview technique. The study fi ndings revealed that 56% of the fathers and 52% of mothers experienced moderate stress. The difference between the fathers’ and mothers’ stress level was found to be significant only for family stress (p= 0.02). Among study subjects 74% of fathers and 70% mothers adopted moderately effective coping. While comparing the mean rank in various aspects of coping the difference was not significant. The findings of this study enable the nurse to understand the stress and coping of both the parents of children admitted in PICU in order to help them and teach them about the changes to expect in them and the ways to adapt.