Abstract

NTRODUCTION: While the needs of children in the hospital environment are among the matters to which importance is attached in the field of health, the fact that sitters are also individuals with numerous needs, is sometimes overlooked. The purpose of this study was to determine the burdens of sitter mothers at paediatrics clinics, and the effect of hospital stay on depression, anxiety and stress levels. METHODS: The study was conducted with 285 mothers, who stayed at the paediatrics clinics of Eskisehir State Hospital and Medical Faculty Hospital of Eskisehir Osmangazi University between October–December 2014, and who agreed to take part in the study. The requisite permission was granted from the ethics committee and the institution before conducting the study. Descriptive Information Form and a Depression–Anxiety–Stress Scale were used as data collection tools. The data was assessed using the IBM SPSS 17.0 statistics package programme. Mean and percentile distributions, the chi square test, independent sample t test and correlation test were used in the assessment of the data. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant relationship between the Depression-Anxiety-Stress levels of mothers who stayed as sitters and the presence of a chronic illness in the child, the period of the illness of the child and the number of days the mothers stayed in hospital as sitters. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It was determined that the mothers who stayed as sitters at paediatrics clinics were at risk from the psychological perspective. Our recommendation is for the nurses, who spend the most time with sick children and their sitters, and who are able to observe them best of all, to be sensitive to the problems suffered by the sitters, and attempt to resolve these within the boundaries of their own possibilities.

Authors and Affiliations