Couples Facing the Birth of a Newborn with a Congenital Anomaly: PTSD Symptoms in the First Year

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in parental couples of newborn requiring early surgery at 6 and 12 months after birth.

Study Design A longitudinal study was set up from January 2014 to June 2015. As a measure of PTSD, we used the Italian version of the Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R).

Results Thirty-four couples form the object of the study. At 6 months, half of mothers (52.9%) and fathers (44.1%) reported traumatic stress symptoms above the clinical cutoff. Percentages remained stable at 12 months. When parental gender and length of follow-up were compared with two-factor analysis of variance, none had an impact on IES-R score, nor an interaction between these factors was found. A significant correlation of IES-R total score was present within the couple both at 6 and 12 months (6 months—r: 0.6842, p < 0.0001 and 12 months—r: 0.4045, p = 0.0177).

Conclusion Having a child with a repaired malformation represents a complex prolonged stressful situation with persistent burden for both parents who are at high risk of developing PTSD symptoms.

Keywords

posttraumatic stress disorder - neonatal intensive care - newborn surgery

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