ArticleParent/Caregiver Stress During Pediatric Hospitalization for Chronic Feeding Problems
Section snippets
Subjects
The subjects of this study were recruited from an inpatient unit of a pediatric rehabilitation hospital in a large northeastern city. The parents/caregivers of children hospitalized with chronic feeding problems volunteered to complete questionnaires and provide specific child and family information. All the children had at least one of the following oral feeding problems: full food refusal, food selectivity, partial food refusal, oral–motor dysfunction, problems advancing texture, excessive
Results
The results show significant changes in parent/caregiver stress across the stages of hospitalization for feeding problems. The four repeated-measures ANOVAs found that these changes occurred for two aspects of parenting stress: stress related to parents' self-perception and social isolation as indicated by the PD subscale score of the PSI-SF, F(2, 72) = 3.68, p < .05, and total parenting stress as indicated by the total score of the PSI-SF, F(2, 72) = 3.39, p < .05. The mean scores for the four
Discussion and Implications for Practice
This study examined stress in mothers/caregivers of children with serious chronic feeding problems. Because there is little previous research regarding stress and adjustment in this population, these results contribute to a growing foundation for understanding their experiences and have significant implications for nurses and other members of hospital-based teams who work with these families. Improved understanding of parenting stress will help in the formulation of successful treatment plans
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