Date of this Version

7-2008

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Objective

Investigate mothers’ mental health, mother-child relationship, and family functioning 3 months after preschool children’s head trauma and hospital discharge.

Design

Prospective survey.

Setting

7 hospitals; families’ homes.

Participants

Eighty mothers of children (ages 3–6) with head trauma.

Measures

Perceived injury severity, Mental Health Inventory (MHI), Parental Stressor Scale: PICU 24–48 hours after admission; MHI, Parenting Stress Index, FACES II, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support 3 months post-discharge.

Results

Injury severity had negative effects on mothers’ mental health at 3 months after discharge, but not on the mother-child relationship and the family’s functioning. Mothers’ baseline mental health and ongoing support had positive effects on mother-child relationship and family adaptability.

Conclusions

Mothers with greater stress and poorer mental health during their child’s hospitalization may be at risk for negative mother-child and family outcomes. Interventions that decrease parents’ stress during hospitalization and promote ongoing social support after discharge may diminish this risk.

Comments

Author's Accepted Manuscript

The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at J Head Trauma Rehabil

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