The Parental Experience of Having an Infant in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review was to explore and describe the experience of parents with an infant in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). A literature search covering the period [1998][1999][2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008] was conducted. Fourteen articles reporting qualitative studies describing parental experiences and meeting the inclusion criteria were evaluated and themes were identified. Findings revealed that parents with an infant in the NICU experience depression, anxiety, stress, and loss of control, and they vacillate between feelings of inclusion and exclusion related to the provision of health care to their neonate. Nursing interventions that promote positive psychosocial outcomes are needed to decrease parental feelings of stress, anxiety, and loss of control. Interventions need to focus on family-centered and developmentally supportive care.

Parental perceptions of hypothermia treatment for neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy

“…The key messages that emerged from the survey were the need for consistency in Despite the different set of challenges, many aspects that emerged in our study of perception of HT are consistent with parental perceptions of having a baby admitted in the NICU for other indications [2,3,6,11,14]. Heringhaus et al [10] and Nassef et al [11] identified "emotional landscapes", which included vulnerability, sadness, guilt, feeling that the treatment was not natural, hope, despair, powerlessness, and gratefulness.…”

“…[1,2,3,4,5,6] Communication is key although it may be suboptimal in the neonatal intensive care unit. [7,8] Hypothermia treatment (HT) has become the standard of care for babies who suffer moderate or severe perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) [9] There is very little literature on whether parents are sufficiently informed and how parents experience and perceive this particular treatment.…”

The needs of mothers to newborns hospitalised in intensive care units

“…Sometimes it is necessary to deal with grief in parents after a failed pregnancy or unexpectedly difficult birth and disillusion 4 . Mothers may have a feeling of ambivalence, very often observed as mood swings between hope and hopelessness 5 . The task of neonatal and pediatric departments is to create appropriate conditions not only for children but also for their parents.…”

Life is a rollercoaster…What helps parents cope with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)?

“…Carter et al (2007) suggest that four specific aspects of the NICU experience can exacerbate stress for parents: the physical environment, the baby's physical appearance or behaviour, staff-parent interactions and alterations in the parental role. Giving care to a newborn infant is a fundamental maternal attachment behaviour, and one which is disrupted within the NICU environment (as described by Obeidat et al, 2009). The experience of the NICU parent is often that of being one of many people caring for their child.…”