Comparison of the effect of narrative writing and art therapy on maternal stress in neonatal intensive care settings.

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the effect of narrative writing and art therapy on maternal stress in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) during infants' hospitalization.Material and Methods: randomized controlled clinical trial with three parallel arms study was conducted among three groups of mothers with preterm infants in the NICUs of two teaching hospitals of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences. Pre- and post-tests were administered to a sample size of 105 during 9 months. The parental stressor scale (PSS) was used. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical methods.Results: The mean maternal stress score was 54.94, 47.08, and 47.57 in the art therapy, narrative writing, and control before the intervention respectively, indicating no significant difference between the groups (p = .28). There was also no significant difference in the mean score of stress between the groups after the intervention (p = .92). Also, we found no significant difference in the mean score of parental role and parents' relationship and sights and sounds between the three groups on the second day (p = .22 and p = .12, respectively) but there was a significant difference in the mean score of infant behavior and appearance between the three groups (p = .05). There was no significant difference in parental role and parents' relationship (p = .31), infant behavior and appearance (p = .58), and sights and sounds (p = .67) between the three groups on the sixth day of intervention.Conclusions: Narrative writing and art therapy are only effective on the subscale of infant behavior and appearance in the PSS: NICU.

Congenital microtia in a neonate due to maternal isotretinoin exposure 1 month before pregnancy: Case Report.

Isotretinoin is a drug used for treating severe cystic/nodular acne. Severe malformations have been documented in neonates whose mothers had taken isotretinoin during pregnancy. Women who became pregnant one cycle after completing therapy are believed to be at teratogenic risk not higher than baseline. We describe the case of a newborn whose mother had taken the drug for 4 weeks. The woman then had contraception for 4 weeks (after the drug treatment had finished), and became pregnant after that period. The newborn had isolated bilateral microtia due to suspected isotretinoin exposure. His mother also had a history of urine tract infection in the second week of pregnancy that was treated with cephalexin. The parents were not from a consanguineous marriage and had no family history of congenital malformations. To reduce the risk, effective contraception should be continued in fertile women more than 1 month after completing therapy.