Can a man also be afraid? : partner communication, anxiety and hope in parents of premature infants
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Premature birth can pose a great challenge on the performance of parental roles by parents of premature infants. Is the relationship of new parents affected by anxiety, which the literature enlists among the core consequences of an increased risk of developmental disorders and hospitalization in the early stages of their child’s life? The aims of this study were to determining the links between the levels of anxiety, hope and partner communication in parents of premature babies, and investigating the associations between their reported hope and anxiety. The research included 69 parents (46 mothers and 23 fathers) of infants born before 37-week gestation. All children were hospitalized throughout the entire study. The results suggest significant relationships between partner communication and anxiety in the investigated fathers. The higher their level of state anxiety, the less support they were willing to provide to their partners, and the higher their level of trait anxiety, the stronger their tendency to depreciate them. In addition, there were significant links between gestational week of birth and the level of anxiety reported by the mothers. The earlier the child was born, the higher was the level of state anxiety associated with the situation in mothers.