Spiritual Orientation and Religious Coping Styles of Mothers whose Babies were Hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Türkiye: Relationship with Stress Levels and Parental Beliefs

This descriptive, correlational study examined the relationship between spiritual orientations, religious coping styles, stress, and parental beliefs in mothers with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The study included 120 mothers whose infants were treated in a hospital NICU. Data were collected using the Mother and Infant Descriptive Information Form, Parental Stressor Scale: NICU (PSS:NICU), NICU Parent Belief Scale (PBS), Spiritual Orientation Scale (SOS), and Religious Coping Styles Scale (RCSS). There was a significant correlation between SOS and PBS (β = 0.364; t = 4.251; p < 0.001) and explained 13% of the variance (R² = 0.133). It was also found that there was a significant correlation between positive religious coping styles and PBS (β = 0.256; t = 2.873; p = 0.005) and explained 6% of the variance (R² = 0.065). However, no significant correlation was found between Negative Religious Coping Styles and PSS:NICU (p = 0.339). These findings emphasize the relationship between spiritual orientation, religious coping styles, parental stress and beliefs.