Parental stress in families of 2 year old extremely low birthweight infants.

Objective: To compare the parental stress in the families of 2 year old extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants with that in control families, and to compare the stress of mothers with that of fathers.

Methods: The study population included all parents of ELBW infants (birth weight < 1000 g and gestational age at least 22 gestational weeks) born between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1997 in Helsinki University Hospital and followed at the hospital's neuropaediatric department. The parents of full term, healthy infants born subsequent to each ELBW infant were eligible for the control group. The Swedish Parenthood Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ) translated into Finnish was completed by parents during the neurological assessment visit at 2 years of age.

Results: No significant differences were found in total SPSQ or subscale scores when mothers of ELBW infants were compared with control mothers. Nor did the scores of fathers of ELBW infants differ from the scores of control fathers. However, in the comparison of all mothers with all fathers, several differences were found: mothers indicated significantly more distress than fathers with respect to role restriction, incompetence, and spouse relationship problems, and fathers indicated significantly more distress on the social isolation subscale.

Conclusion: The study shows that, although the birth of an ELBW infant is a stressful event for parents, most parents seem to have recovered well by the time the child has reached the age of 2. In both control families and those of ELBW infants, the overall stress of mothers seemed to be higher than that of fathers.