Background: Hospitalization of a child in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a very stressful experience for parents. High stress in father can product decline in psychological adaptation and associated problems. The present study aimed to determine effect of fathersʼ participation in the care of hospitalized child in PICU on fathersʼ stress and coping strategies.

Materials and Methods: This is a clinical trial with 60 fathers with children admitted to the PICU in intervention and control groups. Fathers in intervention group, participated in the care of the child in 5 times, during a 5-days course. Fathersʼ stress and coping strategies were surveyed in intervention group before and after participation course and in control group before and after a 5-days course.

Results: Fathersʼ stress in intervention group decreased significantly after participation (p˂0.001) but in control group difference was not significant after time course. Fathers in both groups applied similar coping strategies that majority were emotion focused.

Conclusion: Fathers having children in PICU would experience a lot of stress. Their participation in the care of the children would be very effective to decline their stress and reach most adaptation with disease, cure and cares in children.

Background: Under-nutrition has multiple negative impacts on child's growth and development and it has a high prevalence among hospitalized children. Assessment of the food insecurity status is one of the most important indicators of malnutrition among communities, therefore the aim of the current study is to evaluate the prevalence of food insecurity and its social, economical and nutritional determinants among children hospitalized in Tabriz pediatric hospital.

Materials and Methods: The current cross-sectional study was carried out among 236 hospitalized children in Tabriz pediatric hospital. Demographic information including age, weight, height, household size, child order and household income were gathered by face to face interviews with parents. Food security was assessed by a Household Food Security questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed by Excel 2007, Epi-info and IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software.

Results: The prevalence of food insecurity among hospitalized children in Tabriz pediatric hospital was 44.9%, while 26.3% and 18.6% had moderately and severely food insecurity, respectively. Its prevalence in females was more than in males. Low household income, low educational attainment of parents, rural residency and household size were potent determinants of food insecurity(p<0.05). All indices of nutritional status in food insecure group were lower than in secure group. Although this difference did not achieved significant threshold.

Conclusion: In the current study, a high prevalence of food insecurity in hospitalized children in hospital has been reported. Therefore the need for suitable interventions to reduce its prevalence has been warranted.