Acculturation and stress in Chinese-American parents of infants cared for in the intensive care unit.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the stressful experiences of Chinese-American parents who have an infant in the intensive care unit (ICU), and to assess the influence of acculturation, parents' characteristics, and social supports on parental stress.


METHODS
A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 30 Chinese-American families (30 mothers, 25 fathers) who had an infant hospitalized in 3 ICU sites in the San Francisco area.


METHODS
Measures included: (1) Infant's health data from the medical records and parents' demographic data, and (2) Parental Stressor Scale: Infant Hospitalization, Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale, and Family Support Scale.


METHODS
The dependent variable was mothers' and fathers' stress levels. Independent variables included personal/family characteristics, acculturation, uncertainty regarding infants' illness, and social supports.


RESULTS
The ICU stressors were ranked by both mothers and fathers in the following order: infant's appearance, parental role alteration, staff communication and behaviors, and ICU environment. The combined effects of uncertainty about their infant's illness and its future impact, a strong belief in Asian family values, and lack of support from healthcare providers accounted for 26% and 55% of the variance in parental stress for mothers and fathers, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study suggest implications for the education of both families and the ICU staffs.
Lee
Shih-Yu Sylvia
SY
Byridine F. Lewis School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Science, Georgia State University, Atlanta 30302, USA. slee29@gsu.edu
Lee
Kathryn A
KA
Rankin
Sally H
SH
Alkon
Abbey
A
Weiss
Sandra J
SJ
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012495:San Francisco; D012944:Social Support; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*