Can spiritual care education reduce the anxiety of mothers of hospitalized immature infants?

Authors

Maryam Karimi, Ali Khorshidi, Masoumeh Otaghi, Mosayeb Mozafari

Published in

Journal of education and health promotion. Volume 15. Pages 370. Epub Aug 31, 2026.

Abstract

Hospitalization of a preterm infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a significant stressor for mothers, often leading to heightened anxiety that affects both their well-being and maternal-infant interaction. Spiritual self-care is a nonpharmacological approach that can help mothers manage anxiety and cope with their child's hospitalization. This study examines the impact of spiritual self-care education on maternal anxiety in mothers with preterm infants admitted to the NICU.
This quasi-experimental study involved 90 mothers of preterm infants, selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to control (n = 45) and intervention (n = 45) groups. The intervention consisted of five 45-min spiritual self-care training sessions held every other day. Participants provided written informed consent, and data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (21 items). > Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27. The software was developed by IBM Corp., located in Armonk, New York, United States, applying t-tests, Chi-square tests, and analysis of variance.
The mean maternal age was 32.4 ± 5.7 years in the intervention group and 33 ± 6.06 years in the control group (P < 0.05). The mean birth weight was lower in the intervention group (2063.1 ± 460.98 g vs. 2278 ± 275.57 g, P < 0.05). Anxiety scores decreased significantly post-intervention in both groups (P < 0.001), with a greater reduction observed in the intervention group.
Spiritual self-care education significantly reduces anxiety in mothers of preterm infants, suggesting its usefulness for healthcare providers. Future research should explore how best to integrate spiritual self-care education into standard NICU care and investigate its impact on long-term maternal mental health outcomes.

PMID:
42829739
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Oct 2026.

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