EXPERIENCES OF PARENTS AND NURSES REGARDING THE INVOLVEMENT OF PARENTS’ SOCIAL NETWORK IN THE CARE FOR THE INFANT ADMITTED TO A NEONATAL CARE UNIT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

TITLE: Experiences of parents and nurses regarding the involvement of parents’ social network in the care for the infant admitted to a neonatal care unit: a qualitative study BACKGROUND: The admission of infants to a neonatal care unit has a considerable impact on parents and families. Involvement of the parents’ social network in care is introduced as a new concept based on family-centred care principles, which include increasing the presence of caregivers, undertaking developmental care, and offering support for parents. Given the fact that research is limited concerning involvement of the parents’ social network in neonatal care, the first step is gaining knowledge of the experiences of parents and nurses. AIM: To explore the experiences of parents and nurses regarding the involvement of the parents' social network in the daily care for the infant admitted to a neonatal unit. METHOD: Using a generic qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were held with parents and nurses between January and May 2019 at one academic neonatal care centre in the Netherlands. Six mothers and three fathers participated, including three couples. Six nurses were matched with participating parents. Thematic analysis was used for analysis. RESULTS: As overarching theme ‘parents feeling supported’ emerged describing experiences of parents and nurses. Three interrelated subthemes were identified to define underlying sources of support: ‘sharing the care with someone trustworthy’, ‘being part of the admission experience’ and ‘feeling connected with the natural family system’. From the nurse’s point of view, the overarching theme ‘nursing challenges’ was found and divided into the subthemes of ‘expected role adjustment’ and ‘doubts about the quality of care procedures’. CONCLUSION: Involvement of the network is an important source of support for parents which as they cope with the experience of admission and can be seen as an element within the broader view of family-centred care. RECOMMENDATIONS: To implement involvement, nursing challenges must be taken into account. Dialogue among nurses, parents and members of the network could help to deal with these challenges.