Abstract
Emotions around the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) experience and transition home were explored. Fear was expressed equally for NICU and home, and happiness was discussed twice as often for home experiences. Professionals need to consider parent emotions during this period.
Primary Author and Speaker: Audrey Kane
Contributing Authors: Christine M. Spence, Corri Stuyvenberg, Rachel Gaston, Jennifer Burnsed, Karen D. Hendricks-Muñoz, Richard D. Stevenson, Stacey Dusing
One in every 10 infant births is preterm. Babies born <32 weeks gestation have higher rates of disability. Emotions experienced by families in the NICU around medical instability, environmental factors, and discharge concerns can be complex. Attachment and self-efficacy may be impacted by parent perceptions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify expressed parent emotions recalled from the NICU experience & transition home. The range of emotions was explored along with situations prompting emotional expressions. Participants were 12 families of very preterm infants who enrolled in the Efficacy of Motor and Cognitive Intervention for Infants Born Very Preterm (SPEEDI-2; NCT03518736) study. Data was collected via interviews completed 6-8 weeks after NICU discharge, that explored families’ feelings on the NICU experience and transition home, knowledge & supports related to parenting a very preterm infant, their sense of competence & confidence in caring for their infant, and ability to initiate community-based services. Interviews were coded for each of these variables by the research team. A codebook for emotions was created and and utilized for emotion segment coding. Reliability & consensus were completed by the team. Nearly half of the 319 segments coded for emotion included elements aligned with happiness (45%). The second most common emotion expressed was fear (29%), followed by sadness (12%). Segments expressing anger (8%) or surprise (4%) were least frequent. Happiness and fear were expressed almost equally when discussing time in the NICU. Fear was expressed almost equally between NICU (47%) and post-NICU (47%), while twice as many mentions of happiness occurred when discussing post-NICU/home. Professionals may anticipate parent emotional variability in the NICU and more balanced, positive emotions after the transition to home, indicating need for parent emotional support in to facilitate sensitive, early parent-infant interactions.
Spence, C. M., Stuyvenberg, C. L., Kane, A. E., Burnsed, J., & Dusing, S. (2023). Parent experiences in the NICU and transition to home. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(11), 6050. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20116050
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