Running head: ANXIETY 1

A Theoretical Definition of Anxiety

ANXIETY 2

A Theoretical Definition of Anxiety

In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) parents of premature and critically ill infants

experience a great deal of emotion during the time their infant is in the NICU. Parents are thrust

into the world of immaturity of bodily systems, disturbing alarm sounds, and unfamiliar words;

like apnea and bradycardia. Anxious parents in the NICU are often described by nurses and the

medical team as difficult or annoying because in our roles in the NICU we forget that this is a

crisis for these parents and it is difficult for them to cope with the situation. Parents in the NICU

often talk to the nurse about their feelings of anxiety in regards to the health of their infant and

the NICU environment in general. Thousands of infants are born premature or critically ill on an

annual basis which presents a challenge in the NICU to facilitate the bonding and attachment of

parent and infant which can often cause parents a great deal of anxiety.

Rationale for Selecting Concept

Anxiety in the parents of a premature infant is evident every day in the NICU. I chose to

define this concept to hopefully reveal interventions and therapies to help the parents of the

infants that I care for cope with this uncomfortable emotion that is characterized by an

“uneasiness of mind” and “fearful concern” [ CITATION Fre12 \l 1033 ]. I was the primary

nurse for a premature infant that was born at twenty-four weeks gestation. His mother was a

perfect example of an anxious parent. She would describe feeling like she was going to explode

into a million pieces. She had physical symptoms of sweating and uncontrollable shaking.

She did not want to participate in care of her infant or even touch him in the first week of

life because she said she was to nervous. In an article about the effects of anxiety on the
ANXIETY 3

relationship between parents and their premature infants, Zelkowitz, Bardin, and Papageorgiou

(2007) revealed that “anxiety affects parental behavior in the early days of the developing parent-

infant relationship in the NICU”. Helping parents cope with the anxiety of having their infant in

the NICU should be the focus of current and future practice in the NICU. Parents should be

offered “information concerning adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies shortly after

delivery and mothers who might be more likely to use maladaptive coping strategies should be

identified and provided more focused services” [ CITATION Eis03 \l 1033 ].