ORIGINAL RESEARCH – QUANTITATIVE The assessment of parental stress and support in the neonatal intensive care unit using the Parent Stress Scale – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Melanie Turner *, Anna Chur-Hansen, Helen Winefield, Melinda Stanners School of Psychology, Hughes Building, North Terrace Campus, University of Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia 1. Introduction There were 301,617 births registered in Australia in 2011. 1 Of these births approximately 8% of babies were delivered pre-term, referred to as a premature birth. 1 Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) provide care to these babies born prematurely as well as babies who are ill or who require surgery very soon after delivery. The experience of being a parent of a neonate in the NICU is stressful 2,3 and the effects of the NICU experience may continue beyond the acute admission and influence subsequent family functioning and parent mental health. 4 For better outcomes in parent–baby relationships the key elements are finding and instituting ways to decrease parental stress and improve parental well being in the NICU. 5,6 Lam 7 found that psychologically informed support is indicated in NICU environments. To provide this support a range of programmes has been trialled, and includes Buddy programmes, 8 recorded information via CD or booklet 9 and support groups run by professional hospital staff. 10 Matching the content and style of support offered to the stress profile of NICU parents has not been examined. An understanding of the components of parental stress is necessary in order to offer effective supportive interventions to parents. 1.1. The provision of support in the NICU In the unit described in this paper, which principally cares for premature infants, there are three methods with which all parents are offered emotional and psychological support. The first is support from the medical, nursing and allied health staff responsible for the direct and day-to-day care of the baby. The second is support provided by the mental health trained staff including the team social worker and the perinatal mental health team. The third form of parent support was a weekly open parent support group, provided by the first author and a co-facilitator. Women and Birth 28 (2015) 252–258 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 2 February 2015 Received in revised form 15 April 2015 Accepted 15 April 2015 Keywords: Infant Intensive care unit Neonatal Premature birth Parent A B S T R A C T Problem: Parental stress in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has been reported, however identifying modifiable stress factors and looking for demographic parent factors related to stress has not been well researched. Aim: This study aims to identify the most stressful elements for parents in the neonatal intensive care unit. Methods: Parents of babies in an Australian neonatal intensive care unit (N = 73) completed both the Parent Stress Scale – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and a survey of parent and baby demographic and support experience variables (Parent Survey) over an 18-month period. Findings: Older parental age, very premature birth and twin birth were significantly associated with a higher Parent Stress Scale – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit score. Having a high score in the Relationship and Parental Role scale was strongly associated with attendance at the parent support group. Conclusion: These results indicate the variables associated with stress and this knowledge can be used by teams within hospitals to provide better supportive emotional care for parents. ß 2015 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: PO Box 203, Highbury, SA 5089, Australia. Tel.: +61 408152810. E-mail address: melanie.s.turner@adelaide.edu.au (M. Turner). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women and Birth jo u rn al h om ep age: w ww.els evier.c o m/lo c ate/wo mb i http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2015.04.001 1871-5192/ß 2015 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved.