Parental Experiences in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Background: Neonatal intensive care settings are important to save the lives of sick neonates; however, parents are challenged by many stressful conditions during their stay outside the rooms of intensive care units. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of parents in a neonatal intensive care unit at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: In this study, a phenomenological qualitative approach was used to explore parental experience and data were collected using in-depth interviews from purposively selected parents. In addition, a thematic approach was used to analyze the data using Open Code Software Version 4.02. Results: In this study, parents found to developed psychological problems like anxiety, stress, worry, hopelessness and state of confusion. Emotional related conditions were anger, crying, sadness, frustration, dissatisfaction, regret, disappointment, feeling bad, self-blaming, nervousness, disturbance and lack of self-control. Parents expressed that health care providers showed indiscipline, lack of commitment and not cooperative at all. Conclusion: Parents of neonates in the intensive care unit were challenged due to a shortage of money and traveling a long distance. Psychological and emotional factors were identified as major stressors of parents during their stay in the NICU. Hence, providing psycho-emotional supports, strengthening parents–healthcare providers’ interaction, and scale up neonatal intensive care unit service into the primary health care unit are recommended.

Parents' Experience and Satisfaction in Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Ethiopia: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study Using an Adapted Version of EMPATHIC-N

“…The respondents' level of education was found to be inversely associated with the level of satisfaction, as already reported by other authors (12,41). This might indicate that parents with a higher level of education have a greater expectations regarding the quality of care provided to their newborn.…”

“…Similarly, it has been shown that place of residence might influence satisfaction, whereby people living in rural areas tend to be more satisfied compared to those living in urban areas (12,41). Levels of parent satisfaction in Care and Treatment for their children were also found to be lower for longer lengths of hospital stay.…”

“…A similar questionnaire related to the pediatric intensive care unit was culturally translated in South Africa (11). Although parents' experiences in pediatric health services have already been evaluated by other authors in Ethiopia (12,13), currently a validated instrument to specifically evaluate the NICU context is still not available in that country.…”

Lived Experience of Mothers Having Preterm Newborns in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Wolaita Sodo University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Southern Ethiopia: A Phenomenological Study

“…Earlier studies conducted in Bahirdar in Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Botswana and Jordan reported that although the healthcare providers were supportive and appreciative of their support, some mothers perceived that some of the nurses were unfriendly, and they expressed having had bad experiences with NICU staff where the nurses lacked discipline, commitment, interest, and were not cooperative to support them, which increased mothers' anxiety and frustration. 11,16,25,29,30 This implies that there is a gap which should be taking into consideration that the HCPs should communicate effectively to understand their situation. https://doi.org/10.2147/RRN.S417173…”

“…And also, they were concerned and worried about the financial aspect of care in the NICU. 11,24,29,32,33 This might be because mothers spend a long time in the hospital and often do not get medicine and other laboratory tests in the hospital, instead purchasing them from private pharmacies and clinics. If the medication issue is resolved, mothers will be relieved of the financial burden of medication costs.…”