Evaluation of fear and stress levels and methods of coping with stress among parents having children with chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate the fear and stress levels of parents having children with chronic disease and their methods to cope with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design and methods This descriptive and correlation study was conducted with the participation of 390 parents with and without children suffering from chronic diseases. Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCS), Parenting Stress Index (PSI-SF), and Coping Response Inventory (CRI) were used to collect data. In the data analysis, Kurtosis and Skewness coefficients were used to check the assumption of normal distribution, t-test was used to compare two independent groups and Pearson correlation analysis was used to make relational inferences. Result It was found that 84.9% (n = 331) of the parents were mothers and 15.1% (n = 59) were fathers. The FCS mean score of the parents having children with chronic diseases was 21.52 ± 5.07, their PSI-SF mean score was 68.27 ± 25.56, and their CRI mean score was 96.97 ± 15.12. For the parents having children without chronic diseases, the FCS mean score was 18.10 ± 5.80, the PSI-SF mean score was 68.75 ± 23.43, and the CRI mean score was 94.77 ± 15.08. Conclusion It was determined that parents having children with chronic diseases had higher levels of COVID-19 fear during the pandemic than parents having child without chronic diseases, but their stress levels and CRI mean scores were similar. Practical implications It is important for nurses to take into account the feelings of fear and stress experienced by parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic and provide coping methods.