Abstract
A prospective study was undertaken to assess anxiety in parents whose infants were monitored at home for apnea. An adapted version of the “State” portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was employed to assess parent's anxiety pertaining to their infants sleeping alone in another room and sleeping in the same room with the parents. The Trait portion of the STAI served as a measure of general anxiety. Twenty-five MOMI, as well as 9 mothers of full-term or premature nonmonitored infants (NonMOMI), were asked to complete the questionnaire at discharge and at 1 and 3 months post discharge. Six FOMI also completed the questionnaire at discharge.
The preliminary results indicate the following: l)At discharge, MOMI reported significantly higher anxiety than the NonMOMI, around the issue of infants sleeping alone (t=2.73, p <.01), and higher anxiety around the issue of infants sleeping under their direct supervision. 2)For both situations, differences in anxiety between groups decreased at 1 month and nearly disappeared at 3 months. 3)Groups did not differ on “Trait” or general anxiety at any of the 3 intervals, and the general level of anxiety; remained stable across trials. 4)Father's anxiety level for the situations namely, the child with him and the child sleeping alone, correlated with the mothers anxiety in all situations (r=.78–.99) and mothers anxiety of the same situation (r=.99), rerespectively. However, the father's general anxiety level did not correlate with any measures of the mother's anxiety.
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Purohit, D., Saylor, C., Ford, M. et al. 56 ANXIETY IN MOTHERS OF MONITORED INFANTS (MOMI) AND FATHERS OF MONITORED INFANTS (FOMI). Pediatr Res 19, 120 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00086
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00086