Effect of Spiritual Care on Hope and Self-Transcendence of Mothers of Premature Neonates Hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background: Premature birth and hospitalization in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) is a critical issue for parents, especially mothers. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of spiritual care on hope and self-transcendence in mothers with premature newborns hospitalized in the NICUs.Methods: This quasi-experimental, single-group study was conducted using time series analysis. The sample consisted of 30 mothers with premature neonates hospitalized in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Maraqeh, Iran. The participants were selected through a convenience sampling method following the inclusion criteria. The data were collected using the demographic characteristic forms of mothers and the clinical status of infants, as well as the hope and self-transcendence scales of the mothers with premature neonates admitted to the NICU. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 19) through descriptive statistics (i.e., frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation) and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: The findings show a significant difference among the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages in terms of the mean scores of hope and self-transcendence using repeated measure ANOVA (P