BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Premature infants because special needs might be admitted at the neonatal intensive care unit for days to recover. Despite medical advances, rate of readmission among preterm infants is relatively high, causing economic and psychological problems for families. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of empowerment Mother Program on length of stay and readmission rate of preterm infants.

METHODS: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 70 mothers with premature infants, divided into two groups of intervention and control. Educational-behavioral empowerment program was performed in four stages: 2-4 days after admission (stage one), 2-4 days after completing the first stage (stage two), 1-3 days before discharge (stage three), and one week after discharge (stage four). During each stage, mothers in the intervention group listened to selected audio files, and subjects in the control group received usual care based on hospital policies. In two stages, mothers were regularly enquired about the readmission rate of neonates via phone calls within 10-15 days after discharge. In addition, length of hospitalization was extracted from the medical records of the infants. IRCT:N201410151954.

FINDINGS: In this study, mean of hospitalization in the intervention and control groups was 10.85±5.93 and 13.85±7.65 days, respectively (p=0.03). Moreover, no statistically significant difference was observed in the readmission rate of infants one month after discharge.

CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, the empowerment program caused a significant reduction in the length of hospital stay. However, it had no significant effects on the rate of readmission in the studied neonates