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Original Article

Effects of Supportive Nursing Intervention on the Psychological Well-Being of
Mothers of Neonates Admitted to Tertiary Hospitals in Ogun State

Maitanmi Bukola Titilope, RN, RM, RPHN, RPHNE, BNSc, PGDE, MSc
Senior Nursing Officer, Senior Nursing Officer, Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun
State, Nigeria

Maitanmi Julius Olatade, RN, RM, RPHN, RPHNE, BNSc, PGDE, MSc
Lecturer II Department of Community Health Nursing, School of Nursing, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo,
Ogun State, Nigeria

Ajao Ezekiel Olasunkanmi, RN, PhD, FWACN
Professor, Dean, Department of Community Health Nursing, School of Nursing, Babcock University,
Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State.

Olubiyi Simeon Kayode, RN, PhD, FWACN
Senior Lecturer Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences,
University Of Ilorin, Nigeria

Leslie Tabitha Amere, RN, RM, RPHN, BNSc., PGDE, MSc
Lecturer II, Department of Community Health Nursing , School of Nursing, Babcock University,
Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria

Corespondence: Maitanmi Julius Olatade, RN, RM, RPHN, RPHNE, BNSc., PGDE, MSc
Lecturer II Department of Community Health Nursing, School of Nursing, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun
State, Nigeria e-mail: maitanmij@babcock.edu.ng

Abstract

Women are often faced with different kinds of difficulties while trying to cope with the roles of having to nurse a
neonate. It is worse when the neonate is separated from the mother owing to hospitalization in the neonatal intensive
care unit. Mothers experience psychological trauma ranging from anxiety to depression resulting from the

situation

and the inability to cope with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environment. This study assessed the effect
of supportive nursing intervention on the psychological well-being of mothers of admitted neonates. The study
employed a quasi-experimental research design which involved one group pre and post-test design. There were 5

2

mothers recruited for the study using total enumeration method in the two study centres. Ryfff’s standardized scale
of psychological well-being was used in collecting data from the participants. This study concludes that supportive
nursing intervention has positive effect on the psychological well-being of mothers. Nurses can play major roles in
ensuring that the mothers whose neonates are admitted are psychologically stable throughout the period of
admission.

Keywords: Mothers, Neonate, Psychological well-being, Supportive nursing intervention.

Introduction

Many women experience physical and emotional
issues during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum.
Significant adaptability is required during these

phases particularly during the postpartum period
because it is during this period that bonding is
formed between the mother and the newborn.
Having the newborn admitted to the hospital

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during the early days of life adds extra stress to this
challenging phase of motherhood. The relationship
between mothers and their babies is of significant
value to the psychological well-being of the
mothers. Giving necessary supports to mothers in
this process of developing mother-child
relationship is very important.

Pregnancy and the birth of a baby change the
whole family context and create unique anxieties
in the case of a preterm newborn. Feelings of
incompetence, frustration, anger, guilt and anguish
may be present when mothers do not have healthy
babies. Mothers of hospitalized neonates have a
greater risk for psychological distress. These
mothers experience psychological trauma more
than other mothers. The ability to understand the
psychological well-being of these mothers will
help in managing the mental status of such m

others

which will in turn help in developing special
parenting styles for managing the neonates (Busse,
Stromgren, Thorngate & Thomas, 2013).

The unexpected hospitalization of a neonate is far
from what the mother had anticipated; the shock of
a rapid chain of events taking place, a feeling of
emptiness when the baby is placed in the intensive
care unit, the feeling of powerlessness when facing
the risk of the infant’s possible death and the
invasive treatments are enough to put any mother
in serious psychological distress. These mothers
worry about the viability and future of their
neonates. The reactions of mothers of preterm
neonates could have serious repercussions on the
development of the neonate due to complex and
atypical interactions between the mother and the
child and will also have impact on the
psychological well-being of the mothers.

According to Ryff (2014), the psychological
well-being has six components which are
environmental mastery, acceptance of the situation,
positive relation with others, autonomy, personal
growth and purpose in life. When neonates are
admitted, the mothers’ psychological well-being is
affected mostly in the areas of environmental
mastery, acceptance of the situation and
relationship with others. Environmental mastery
involves a sense of mastery and competence in
managing the environment, making effective use
of the surrounding opportunities and creating
context suitable to personal needs and values. The

inability to manage everyday affairs, unable to
improve on surrounding context and lack of sense
over external world depicts poor mastery of the
environment. Acceptance of the situation is the
ability to possess positive attitude toward self,
acknowledging and accepting multiple aspects of
one’s self including good and bad qualities but in a
case whereby the individual feels dissatisfied and
disappointed with self and have problem about
certain personal qualities will mean that the
individual do not accept self or the situation.
Positive relation with others is when individuals
have warm satisfying, intimate and trusting
relationship with others, concerned about others’
welfare and understand give and take of human
relationships. When the individual has few close
trusting relationships, it makes it difficult for the
individual to be stable psychologically and poor
interpersonal relationship with others will set in.

A study by Yurdakul, et al., (2009) showed higher
anxiety score among mothers whose neonates are
admitted into the NICU and recommended
appropriate counseling during hospitalization of
neonates. Mothers of the neonates admitted to the
NICU are believed to experience the heightened
distress compared to the mothers of healthy
neonates. Study by Saldanha, Rathi, Bal and
Chaudharu (2014) showed that 10%-15% of these
women are affected psychologically and when it
is not treated through supportive nursing
intervention, it brings about dysfunction such as an
anxiety, depression, acute stress disorder and post
traumatic stress disorder (Rai & Rani 2018). This
in turn leads to low parenting skills and poor infant
attachments.

Lee (2009) asserted that identifying and providing
solution to the developmental and physiological
needs of ill neonates and their families has
improved the survival rates of the neonates and the
psychological well-being of the families
particularly the mothers. He also observed that
mothers who give birth and have the neonates
admitted often experience a certain degree of
sorrow, anxiety, anger and depression. Lee, (2013)
believes that when nurses implement supportive
intervention that are therapeutic such as
parent-infant interaction, maternal emotional,
psycho-social, breastfeeding , supporting them on
how to master the environment that they have
found themselves, acceptance of the situation and

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relating with others positively will reduce maternal
distress, increase confidence in caring for their
infants and increase their psychological

well-being

as a whole.

Statement of the Problem

Psychological well-being of mothers whose
neonates are admitted vary based on different
factors such as cultural background and beliefs
(Sola-Carmona, et al.,, 2016). The atmosphere of
the neonatal units have been reported to destabilize
the emotional state of mothers and leave emotional
scars on them even while trying to manage the
situation. The health status of the baby, treatment
procedures and the prognosis have being linked to
reduction of psychological well-being of these
mothers.

At the two Selected Tertiary Hospitals in Ogun
State, the researchers also observed that mothers of
these neonates also experience psychological
disturbances in terms of environmental mastery
which has led to disturbed sleeping pattern,
uncoordinated activities and imbalanced nutrition.
Also, accepting the fact that their neonates are
admitted have reduced their happiness because
they do not know what the outcome of the
admission will be and all these have contributed in
not allowing them to relate well with others.

There have been advances in science and
technology which improves the survival rate of the
neonates but less importance has been placed on
the psychological well-being of these mothers who
have their neonates admitted in the NICU.

On the basis of the foregoing, this study assessed
the psychological well-being of mothers who have
their neonates admitted and supportive nursing
intervention was given that can help foster the
psychological well-being of these mothers.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of this study is to assess the
effect of supportive nursing intervention on the
psychological well-being of mothers of admitted
neonates in two selected tertiary hospitals in Ogun
State. The specific objectives are to:

1. conduct a pre-intervention assessment on the
psychological well-being of mothers of admitted
neonates in two selected hospitals in Ogun state

2. provide a supportive nursing intervention on
psychological well-being to mothers of admitted
neonates in the two selected hospitals in Ogun state
3. conduct a post intervention assessment to
assess the effect of the supportive nursing
intervention on the psychological well-being of the
mothers.

Hypotheses

1. There is no significant difference between
pre-intervention and post intervention
psychological well-being of mothers of neonates
admitted in the two selected hospitals
2. There is no significant difference between
parity of the mothers and the psychological
well-being of mothers.

Methodology

Research Design

The study employed a quasi-experimental research
design which involved one group pre-test post-test
design and assessed the effect of supportive
nursing intervention on the psychological
well-being of mothers of neonates admitted in two
selected tertiary hospitals in Ogun State. The target
population for the study comprised of mothers who
have their neonates admitted to the neonatal units
of Babcock University Teaching Hospital and
Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in
Ogun State. A total enumeration method was used
in recruiting participants for this study by
recruiting the participants who were ready to
engage in the study since the average number of
patients on monthly basis was low (Table 1).
Average patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit of both hospitals are as follows according to
the researchers’ survey prior to the study:

Instrumentation

The researcher adapted Ryff’s Scale of
Psychological Well-being (PWB) to collect data
from the participants. The questionnaire was
adapted because it is not all the domains in the
psychological well-being that are related to the
mothers when they have their neonates admitted.
The three domains associated with this study are
the environmental mastery, acceptance of the
situation and relationship with others. The
questionnaire consists of four sections. Sections A
to D with 38items.

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Section A: Socio-Demographic data with 13 items
which included open and close ended questions.
Section B: This consists 9 items for assessing the
area of environmental mastery of the
mothers.Section C: This consists 7 items for
assessing the areas of acceptance of the situation of
the mothers. Section D: This consists of 9 items for
assessing the areas of positive relation with others.

Ryff’s Scale of Psychological Well-being was used
with the following response format: 1 = Strongly
disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Undecided; 4 = Agree;
5 = Strongly agree. However, 13items were
reversely scored which are 15, 16, 18,20, 26, 27,
28, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36 and 37. The instrument was
translated to Yoruba by an expert in linguistic to
enable those that did not understand English
language participate in the study.

Reliability of the Instrument

Ryff’s Scales of Psychological well-being was
used with internal consistency (Alpha Coefficient)
of 0.88. The researcher also tested the reliability of
the adapted instrument at Federal Medical Centre,
Abeokuta by recruiting ten mothers whose
neonates were admitted into the NICU of that
hospital and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was
found to be 0.85, so the instrument was considered
reliable.

Data Collection Procedure

Approval to carry out the study was sought from
the health and research ethical committees of the
two study centers in three stages:

Pre-intervention (First stage)

The researcher sought consent of the participants,
explained the purpose and benefits of the study to
the participants, and also solicited the cooperation
of the participants throughout the study. The
researcher and the participants agreed on the time
and duration of the intervention which did not
infringe on their leisure time. The pre-test was then
administered.

Intervention (Second stage)

The intervention programme for the study was
supportive nursing intervention which was
delivered by the researcher. The supportive nursing
intervention was given to the recruited participants
in each of the centres.

Post-intervention (Third Stage): Post
intervention data was collected using the same
instrument that was used in the pre-intervention
stage.

Ethical Considerations

Approval to carry out the study was sought and
obtained from the Babcock University Health and
Research Ethical Committee (BUHREC), Babcock
University Teaching Hospital (BUTH) and Olabisi
Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Health
and Research Ethical Committee (OOUTHHREC).
Informed consent of the participants was gained
through adequate explanation of the reason for
conducting the research and also the mothers were
allowed to sign the consent form before getting
involved in the study. It was explained to the
participants that they were free to quit from the
study at any point if they are not interested again.
Information obtained from the participants was
used for academic purpose and the confidentiality
of the participants was ensured.

Results

The average number of mothers per month in
NICU of BUTH in the research period were = 96/

6

=16 mothers. The average number of mothers per
month in NICU of OOUTH were = 247/6 =
41mothers. Average total patients in both BUTH
and OOUTH in one month: 16+41 = 57mothers.
However, during the study period, only 52 mothers
were seen over the four weeks of the study period.
13 mothers were recruited in BUTH and
39mothers from OOUTH. The average number of
mothers per month in BUTH 6months prior to the
study were = 96/6 =16 mothers per month. The
average number of mothers per month in OOUTH
6months prior to the study were = 247/6 =
41mothers per month (Table 1).

Table 2 describe the socio-demographic
characteristics of the participants. A total of 52
mothers were recruited for the study. About one
third of the mothers 19(36.5%) were between
25-30years, majority of the participants 19(36.5%)
were para3. Majority 44(84.6%) of the participants
have not had any of their children admitted before
into the NICU. Half of the participants 26(50%)
had tertiary education and most (44.2%) of the
neonates have been admitted for about 4-6days.

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Table 3 shows the pre-intervention psychological
well-being of mothers whose neonates were
admitted into the NICU during the study period.
From the table, 65.4% of the mothers had low
psychological well-being resulting from
environmental mastery, 80.8% of the participants
were low in acceptance of the situation while
26.9% of the participants were low in positive
relations. Twenty-one reflecting 40.4% of the
mothers had low psychological well-being in
overall prior to the supportive nursing intervention.

Table 4shows the post-intervention psychological
well-being of the mothers after the supportive

nursing intervention has been given. 53.8% of the
mothers had normal psychological well-being
resulting from environmental mastery, 75% was
high in acceptance of the situation and 71.2% was
high in positive relations with others. On the
overall, the psychological well-being of most
(82.7%) of the mothers became high after the
supportive nursing intervention. The supportive
intervention was seen to have brought about
improvement in all the components or domains of
the psychological well-being measured. The
supportive nursing intervention could be seen as
impactful.

Table 1: Average number of mothers whose neonates were admitted in the study centers for
6months prior to the study (July 2018- December, 2018)

MONTH Babcock University Teaching

Hospital

Olabisi Onabanjo University

Teaching Hospital

July 2018 21 48

August 2018 20 4

4

September 2018 17 46

October 2018 9

29

November 2018 16 42

December 2018 13 38

Total 96 24

7

Table 2 presents the Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Participants (N = 52)

Variable Frequency (n) Percentage
(%)

Age group (yrs)

19 – 24

25 – 30

31 – 36

37 and above

7

19

14

12

13.5

36.5

26.9

23.1

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Mean ±SD = 30.96 ± 6.

17

Parity

Para1

Para 2

Para 3

Para 4

Above 4

13

17
19
1
2

25.0

32.7

36.5

1.9

3.8

Family average monthly income (thousand)

Below 100

100 – 200

201 – 300

301 – 400

29

16

4
3

5

5.8

30.8

7.7

5.8

Mother’s occupation

Civil servant

Self employed

Artisan

14

32

6

26.9

61.5

11.5

Mother’s highest level of education

No formal

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

2
6

18

26

3.8
11.5

34.6

50.0

Table 3: Participant’s Pre-intervention psychological well-being (N = 52)

Category Score Frequency (%) Remark
Environmental Mastery

0 – 3 (≤25.0% score)

4 – 6 (>25.0% score)

7 – 9 (≥75.0% score)

34 (65.4)

16 (30.8)

2 (3.8)

Low

Normal

High

Acceptance of the

situation

0 – 2 (≤25.0% score)

3 – 4 (>25.0% score)

5 – 7 (≥75.0% score)

42 (80.8)

8 (15.4)

2 (3.8)
Low
Normal

High

Positive relations with

others

0 – 3 (≤25.0% score)
4 – 6 (>25.0% score)
7 – 9 (≥75.0% score)

14 (26.9)

24 (46.2)

14 (26.9)
Low
Normal
High

Psychological

well-being

0 – 8 (≤25.0% score)

9 – 16 (>25.0% score)

17 – 25(≥75.0% score)

21 (40.4)

31 (59.6)

0 (0.0)

Low
Normal
High

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Table 4 : Participant’s Post-intervention psychological well-being (N = 52)

Category Score Frequency Percentage (%)

Environmental Mastery 0 – 3 (≤25.0% score)

4 – 6 (>25.0% score)
7 – 9 (≥75.0% score)

4 (7.7)

28 (53.8)

20 (38.5)

Low
Normal
High
Acceptance of the
situation
0 – 2 (≤25.0% score)
3 – 4 (>25.0% score)
5 – 7 (≥75.0% score)

5 (9.6)

8 (15.4)

39 (75.0)

Low
Normal
High
Positive relations with
others
0 – 3 (≤25.0% score)
4 – 6 (>25.0% score)
7 – 9 (≥75.0% score)
8 (15.4)

7 (13.5)

37 (71.2)

Low
Normal
High
Psychological
well-being
0 – 8 (≤25.0% score)
9 – 16 (>25.0% score)
17 – 25(≥75.0% score)
0 (0.0)

9 (17.3)

43 (82.7)

Low
Normal
High

Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesis One

There is no significant difference between
pre-intervention psychological well-being and the
post – intervention psychological well-being of
mothers.

Hypothesis Two

There is no significant association between parity
of the mothers and the psychological well-being of
mothers.

Table 5 result of t-test reveals that the mean
difference between pre and post intervention was
significant (p < 0.001). Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. Then, the study found out that there is significant difference between the pre and post

intervention psychological well-being. This is an
indication that the intervention had positive impact
on the mother’s psychological well-being. This
shows that supportive nursing intervention play
major role in improving the psychological
well-being of mothers during the admission of
their neonates. Most of the mothers had low
psychological well-being at the pre-intervention
phase but there was improvement after the
supportive nursing intervention was given.

Table 6 reveals the result of chi-square that the
mother’s parity was not significantly (p = 0.490)
associated with their level of psychological
well-being. This shows that the number of children
the mother has does not necessarily translate to
increase or decrease in the psychological
well-being of the mothers

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Table 5 represents Paired Sample Test

Table 6 Association between mother’s parity and psychological well-being

Significant association at p < 0.05, Fisher’s exact value was reported for small cells

Discussion of Findings

Research Question One

Findings from the study shows that 65.4% of the
mothers had low psychological well-being resulting
from environmental mastery, 80.8% was low in
acceptance of the situation and only 46.2% was
normal in positive relations. This study is also
supported by Binu, Sheela, Leslie and Ramesh
(2014), who opined that among mothers whose
neonates are hospitalized in NICU, high levels of
anxiety depression and hostility was shown and
same also revealed problems of psycho-social
adjustment of the mothers. Their findings showed
that the state anxiety level was found to be 65% in
the mothers whose neonates were hospitalized.
Furthermore, in line with Study by Health
information for Western Australian (2018) the
findings was supported showing that mothers are
often not psychologically stable during the
admission of their neonates: 8 to 11% of women
experience depression during admission of their
neonates while 13 per cent of women will go
through post natal depression. This findings was
also supported by the study by Ashwani, Rekha and
Kumar (2017) that found out that NICU

environment has the potential to exacerbate stress
for mothers of neonates admitted to the NICU
therefore directly affecting the environmental
mastery of the mothers. The psychological distress
might be due that their babies are not kept with
them, they only have access to their babies
occasionally and seeing their neonates under
medical equipment and watching them undergoing
procedures.

Niranjan, et al, (2015) also affirmed that lack of
maternal role, such as not being able to protect the
neonate, and separation and the appearance and
behavior of the sick neonate cause significant
distress in mothers whose sick neonate is
hospitalized in NICU. Twenty seven (90%) mothers
scored more than 137 on the Parental Stress Scale
(PSS): NICU falling into the “Extremely stressful”
severity rating of PSS: NICU and three mothers
(10%) scored between 103-136 indicating “very
stressful” states according to PSS: NICU. This is in
line with the study of Kolmakova, (2015) on
support for the parents whose child is in neonatal
intensive care unit. He opined that lack of
information, new environment and uncertainty
about the neonate’s future make the mother more
stressed and psychologically fragile.

Mean Mean
Difference

t-value p- value Remark

Pre-Intervention

Post – Intervention

9.69

18.75

9.06

12.48

< 0.001

Significant

Variables Psychological Well-being
Low

n(%)
Normal
n(%)

X2- Value p-value

Parity
One
Two
Three
Four
Above four

6 (28.6)
6 (28.6)
7 (33.3)
0 (0.0)
2 (9.5)

7 (22.6)
11 (35.5)
12 (38.7)
1 (3.2)
0 (0.0)

3.64

0.490

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Niranjan, et al., (2015) also placed much emphasis
on the environment as a major factor that affects
the psychological well-being. Heidari, Hasanpour
and Fooladi (2017) further found that the mothers
in the study wanted to seek for help and sympathy
from others because of the low psychological
well-being experienced in the area of positive
relation with others as also experienced by the
participants in this study which shows low positive
relation with others by 26.9% of the participants.
This study is also supported by Stacey, Osborn and
Salkovskis (2015), who conducted a study
assessing factors that helped mothers cope with the
NICU and found that the physical environment of
the NICU played a critical role in maternal ease
and satisfaction. The link between the physical
NICU environment and maternal well-being has
strong indications for practical quality
improvements that promote maternal convenience
and comfort.

Research Question Two

The post intervention result reveals that there was
improvement in the mothers’ psychological
well-being in areas of environmental mastery,
acceptance of the situation and positive relation
with others. This may be connected with the fact
that most mothers want to be supported
psychologically during the admission of their
neonates. The support most times always assists
the mothers in coping with the period.

This finding was corroborated by Ilana, et al.,
(2014) who opined that supportive nursing
intervention approaches for mothers of neonates in
the NICU have been revealed to reduce emotional
stress and other psychological trauma they
experience and is effective in improving their
psychological well-being.

The result from pre and post-intervention
assessment of the psychological well-being of the
participants was seen to improve in all the
components from environmental mastery,
acceptance of the situation to positive relations
with others. Majority (92.3%) of the participants
became stable psychologically in the area of
environmental mastery after the supportive nursing
intervention as compared to low (65.4%) of the
pre-intervention. This improvement in the area of
environmental mastery may not be unconnected to
the right information to the equipment being used

for their babies, how they can cope with the
environment and helping them to accept new
challenges with good fate. This is in support of the
study by Lindberg and Ohrling (2009)who found
that emotional support from family members,
cultural background and belief, and medical team
giving needed information to mothers about their
neonates helps them in their ability to manage the
challenge that comes with hospitalization of their
neonates (53.8% became normal psychologically
while 38.5% became high psychologically). This
finding is in agreement with the study by
Heydarpour, et al., (2017) who found out that
social support and interaction with healthcare
providers played a critical role in adjustment to
new motherhood in a NICU environment. This
finding is also supported by the findings of Stacey,
Osborn and Salkovskis (2015) where it was
discovered that NICU environments and maternal
well-being has strong indications for practical
quality improvements that promote maternal
convenience when manipulated.

The improvement in the psychological well-being
of the participants in this study is also supported by
the findings in a study conducted by
Ntswane-Lebang and Khoza (2010) on mothers’
experiences of caring for very low birth weight
premature infants in one public Hospital in
Johannesburg, South Africa, mothers were found
to improve psychologically after receiving
emotional support and information to cope with the
psychological challenge that came with admission
of their neonates. This is also supported by the
study of Hima, Rima, Sridhar and Earnest (2018),
on how activity based group therapy can reduce
maternal anxiety in the NICU, it was concluded that
anxiety in mothers of neonates admitted in the
NICU has been associated with adverse neonatal
and parenting outcomes. Intervention to reduce
anxiety levels in mothers in the NICU was given
and anxiety levels were assessed before and after
every group session. Their anxiety level was
significantly lower in the post-test, when compared
to the pre-test. Also the number of mothers
suffering from moderate to severe anxiety and the
anxiety scores in the post-test were significantly
lower after the intervention.

Vhlqvist-biorkroth, et al., (2016) in their study on
mothers of preterm neonates commonly experience
separation from their neonate or exclusion from

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their role as primary caregivers during the hospital
care of their neonate, observed that close
collaboration with mother intervention to improve
their communicating with caregivers in neonatal
intensive care units (NICU) was developed to
increase their presence and participation into
neonate care, and to improve mother-neonate
bonding and, thereby, mothers’ psychological
well-being and later child development. The result
by Lindberg and Ohrling (2009) also supports the
findings of this study that emotional support from
family members, cultural background and belief,
and medical team giving needed information to
mothers about their neonates helps them in their
ability to manage the challenge that comes with
hospitalization of their neonates thereby improving
the psychological well-being of the mothers.

Also, according to Barr (2015) in his study of Guilt,
shame and fear of death predict neonatal intensive
care unit-related parental distress, he generated
some ways by which mothers adopt in coping with
admission of their neonates which has improved the
psychological well-being of the mothers. The study
conducted by Rachel, Lean, Cynthia, Rogers,
Rachel, Paul and Emily (2018), revealed that
supportive nursing interventions given to mothers
of neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care
unit (NICU) who experience psychological
distress, loss of the parenting role, and disruptions
to mother-infant bonding demonstrated consistent
links with later maternal mental well-being,
sensitive parenting behaviors, and children’s
cognitive and socio-emotional development.

Conclusion

Supportive nursing intervention has positive effect
on the psychological well-being of mothers whose
neonates were admitted to NICU. The
improvements in the mothers’ psychological
well-being in this study shows that the mothers
now have a sense of mastery and competence in
managing the environment, controls complex
arrays of external activities, possess a positive
attitude towards self, have warm satisfying,
trusting relation with others and also understand
give and take of human relationship. Nurses play
major roles in ensuring that the mothers are
psychologically stable throughout the period of
admission. The study highlighted the importance

of supportive nursing intervention to improve the
psychological well-being of mothers.

Recommendations

Based on the findings from this study, the
researcher recommended the following:

1. Health professionals especially nurses should
always assess the psychological well-being of
mothers of admitted neonates.
2. Policies should be made in the different NICU
so that adequate and needed care particularly
psychological support can be given to the mothers
of these admitted neonates.
3. Mothers should be allowed to see their
neonate anytime and allow them cuddle them as
need arise as this might improve their
psychological well-being particularly in the area of
positive relation with others.
4. Mothers should be accommodated in a
favourable environment so that the psychological
well-being of mothers in the area of environmental
mastery can be sustained.
5. Psychologists can be involved in the health
care setting particularly in caring for the patients’
relatives like these mothers.
6. The health care team particularly Nurses
should be prepared to support the mothers
psychologically and also be prepared to answer
repeated /frequent questions that bothers them
psychologically.

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