and anxiety much earlier and need to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. of preterm infants who needs hospitalization in NICU experiences a various degree of anxiety and depression. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the effects of schema therapy on the anxiety of mothers of preterm infants which hospitalized in the NICU. Methods: In this Experimental study 60 mother of infants who hospitalized in NICU of Qazvin medical university in 2018 were selected through simple sampling and assigned in two equal group of intervention and control group randomly. Data was collected using Beck anxiety inventory and Young schema questionnaire-short form (YSQ-SF). The intervention includes individualized schema therapy sessions that provided 2 sessions per week for 5 consecutive weeks. The control group didn’t receive any special intervention from researcher. Data was collected at beginning of the study, at the end of fifth week, one, two, and three months later. Data was analyzed using SPSS software package, version 23 through using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The study findings showed that schema therapy can reduce anxiety of mothers of preterm infants in intervention group comparing with control group (P<0.001). Determination and comparison of participant’s anxiety in four stage of anxiety level measurements and its relationship with schema therapy have shown that interaction and group effects and also p value of group (schema therapy group) was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Considering the study findings, schema therapy can be used by psychiatric nurses for reducing the anxiety of mothers of preterm infants who hospitalized in NICU as non-invasive and effective intervention.

Keywords: Schema therapy Anxiety Preterm labor Neonatal intensive care units