Résumé
The preterm infant is traditionally defined as a live-born infant who born before the end of 37 weeks of gestation, regardless of birth weight. This study was aimed to assess stressors and coping patterns of mothers having preterminfants. The study subjects consisted of sixty mothers and their preterm infants at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU] at Maternity and Gynaecological Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University Hospitals. The study tools of data collection were; 1] Pre-designed Questionnaire Format; to assess socio-demographic characteristics of the studied mothers and their preterm infants. 2] Parental Stressors Scale [related to Infant Hospitalization]; to measure mothers' perception of stressors arising from the physical and psychosocial environment of the neonatal intensive care unit [hospitalization]. 3] Stressors Scale for Mothers of Preterm Infants; to determine types and degrees of stressors experienced by mothers of preterm infants in addition to physical signs and symptoms of stress. 4] Coping Scale for Mothers of Preterm Infants; to determine coping patterns of mothers of preterm infants. The results of the study revealed that, high total mean scores of maternal stressors were observed among the studied mothers. High mean score of physical signs and symptoms of mothers stressors with low total mean score of positive coping was observed among the studied mothers. The study concluded that mothers were experienced high stressors levels when their infants are admitted to a NICU. Nursing intervention was recommended to decrease levels of stressors experienced by mothers of preterm infants in NICU and improve their coping pattern to overcome this highly stressful period