Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2002 Jul;8(3):260-271.

Stress of the Pediatric Patient's Parent in the Emergency Department

• Park IS
• Lee NH

Abstract

This study was performed to identify the level of stress recognized by the parents as a support system for their infant patients who were hospitalized in an emergency department, thus to provide the resulting data as the basic material of care intervention for the families of infant patients. This study subjected the parents with infant patients who were hospitalized in emergency department of C University Hospital in Daejeon, and the data was collected from questionnaires for them, dating from Mar. 20, to Jun. 24, 2001 This study used the tool(30 questions) which was originally developed by Ji, Dong-ok (1992) for measuring the stress of families of infant patients in emergency room, and then was modified and complemented by this researcher suitably for infant patients. Collected data was statistically analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, by using SPSS WIN10.0 program, and the results were as follows: 1. The stress of parents with infant patients hospitalized in emergency department averaged 3.31 on the basis of 5-point measure, which means that they felt stress beyond means. 2. The factor with high average out of stress factors the parents of infant patients recognized included the followings: 'about the pain of infant patients due to examination(3.91 +/- 1.00)'; 'about rare opportunity to be in contact with physician(3.78 +/- 1.09)'; 'delay in emergent treatment required for infant patients(3.75 +/- 1.31)'; 'delay in the general treatment of infant patients(3.72 +/- 1.32)'. Factors of the stress level includes the followings: 'care and medical treatment'(3.46 +/- .72); 'body and diseases'(3.41 +/- .97)'; 'lack of information and supportable resources (3.25 +/- .77)'; and so on. 3. For the stress level according to general characteristics, there were statistically significant differences in the result of the condition of infant patients, medical treatment(P < .01), religion, the procedure of treatment(P < .05). With little preceding studies for infant patients hospitalized in emergency department, this study looked through the level of stress recognized by the parents of infant patients. Based on the comprehension on the parents with infant patients and the knowledge on stress factors recognized by the parents, it is expected that we can seek the methods of care intervention such as explanation of care and treatment procedures, unit policies, continuous interest and emotional supports as well as the provision of information to understand the responses of parents and reduce accompanied stresses.

MeSH Terms

Complement System Proteins
Comprehension
Emergencies*
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Humans
Infant
Parents*
Child Health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Complement System Proteins