Vol. 7, Issue 8, Part A (2021)

Having a child hospitalized is a stressful event for parents who often experience anxiety and depression during the period of hospitalization. The impact of pediatric illnesses and disabilities on family stress has been well documented in the literature.

The objectives of the study were to measure psychological wellbeing among parents of the hospitalized children, and to find the association between psychological wellbeing of parent and selected demographic variables and illness related variables of the child. A cross sectional study was carried out on a sample of 120 parents of hospitalized children in a selected hospital using purposive sampling technique. The data were collected using self report questionnaire –modified Psychological General Wellbeing index- 22 items for measuring the psychological wellbeing level of the parents. Ethical consideration was obtained from IEC, Regional College of Nursing and informed consent was taken from the subjects. The study finding showed that Majority of the subjects, i.e. 62.5% (75) have average psychological wellbeing followed by 22.5% (27) having poor psychological wellbeing and 15.0% (18) have good psychological wellbeing. The chi square test results reveal that psychological wellbeing has a significant association the parent’s religion, family income, occupation and duration of hospitalization of the child. Hence, parents psychosocial functioning is important for children's physical and mental health outcomes. On the basis of the present study findings it is concluded that hospitalization of the child greatly influence the parent’s psychological wellbeing and their attitudes during a child's illness, especially during hospitalization, may deeply influence the child's adherence to the care and impact of the disease.