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Hospital boarder babies and their families: an exploratory study
M O Marcenko1, L Seraydarian, K Huang
1Hahnemann University, Department of Mental Health Sciences, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
Insights
Hospitalized newborns, known as boarder babies, often have mothers facing drug use, homelessness, and lack of social support. These factors contribute to prolonged infant hospital stays and significant healthcare costs.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
Background:
- Boarder babies, defined as infants remaining in the hospital beyond medical necessity, represent a significant challenge.
- Identifying the underlying bio-psycho-social factors is crucial for effective intervention and resource allocation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the bio-psycho-social factors contributing to infant boarding.
- To understand the characteristics of mothers with boarder babies.
- To determine the impact of infant boarding on hospital costs.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of medical and social work data.
- Analysis of 20 boarder baby cases and their 18 mothers.
- Identification of key demographic, social, and medical variables.
Main Results:
- Mothers frequently exhibited substance use, history of child protective services involvement, and homelessness.
- A significant lack of informal social support was observed among these mothers.
- Infant health issues primarily included prematurity and infections, leading to 195 boarding days and $117,000 in unreimbursed costs.
Conclusions:
- Bio-psycho-social challenges faced by mothers are strongly linked to infant boarding.
- Interventions addressing maternal substance use, housing instability, and social support are critical.
- Further research is needed to develop targeted programs and reduce infant boarding and associated healthcare expenditures.
Abstract:
Data were abstracted from the medical and social work charts of 20 newborns who were classified as boarder babies and their mothers (N = 18) to identify bio-psycho-social factors associated with boarding. The findings show that the mothers whose newborns remained in the hospital as boarders were usually drug users, had other children in out-of-home placement, and over half are periodically homeless. Most of these mothers also lacked informal social support. The major health problems of infants were prematurity and associated infections. The total number of infant boarding days was 195 for a total of $117,000 in unreimbursed costs to the hospital. Practice and program implications and directions for future research are discussed.