Art-Based Occupation Group Reduces Parent Anxiety in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Mixed-Methods Study

2015

Beth DeGrace
[email protected]
405-271-2131

OBJECTIVE. We examined whether an art-based occupation group using scrapbooking in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) would reduce parent stress, operationalized as anxiety. We also wanted to understand the parents lived experience of the group. METHOD. Forty parents from a Level 3 NICU in a large metropolitan hospital participated. We administered the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory preactivity and postactivity along with a brief interview. CONCLUSION. An art-based occupation group using scrapbooking was an effective brief intervention to reduce parent anxiety in the neonatal intensive care unit; parent interviews suggested that participation has broad clinical implications for parent well-being.

art-based occupation, Occupational Therapy, parent stress, anxiety, scrapbooking

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Consumers/Families, Professionals, Policymakers, Students

http://ajot.aotapress.net/content/67/6.toc

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