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Background The mothers of premature newborns experience high levels of stress which can affect their relationships with their newborns, cause them ineffective parental role performance, and impair their newborns’ growth and development. Emotional intelligence (EI) has potential positive effects on stress. Objectives This study evaluated the effects of training EI skills on stress among the mothers of premature newborns in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2016 with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. Ninety mothers of premature newborns were selected from the NICUs of Zeinabieh and Hafez hospitals, Shiraz, Iran, and randomly allocated to an intervention and a control group. Participants in the control group received EI skills training in six sessions held twice weekly. The Parental Stress Scale was used for stress assessment before and one week after the intervention. The SPSS software (v. 16.0) was used for data analysis. Results Thirty seven participants in each group completed the study. While there was no significant difference between the intervention and the control groups respecting the pretest mean score of stress (48.89±19.02 vs. 44.92±18.55; P = 0.37), the posttest mean score of stress in the intervention group was significantly less than the control group (13.29±13.15 vs. 47.84±22.56; P < 0.001). The mean score of participants’ stress had significant relationship with their income level and their premature newborns’ birth weight. Conclusion Training EI skills is effective in significantly reducing stress among the mothers of premature newborns in NICU. |
