Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Parental interaction with infants treated with medical technology
Björn Lantz1, Cornelia Ottosson
1Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden. bjorn.lantz@hb.se
Insights
Parents perceive medical technology in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) differently, impacting their interaction with newborns. Understanding these perceptions is key to fostering parent-newborn attachment during critical care.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Parent-infant attachment
- Medical technology impact
Background:
- Parental interaction is crucial for newborn attachment.
- Limited understanding exists on how NICU medical technology affects parental interaction.
- Parents' perceptions of medical devices as interaction barriers are largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess parental perceptions of medical technology as obstacles to interacting with infants in the NICU.
- To determine the extent to which NICU equipment hinders parent-infant interaction.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2010 among parents of infants discharged from five Swedish NICUs.
- A specifically developed questionnaire was used to gather data from 248 parents.
- Data were analyzed using multiple regressions and t-tests.
Main Results:
- Parents perceived NICU medical technology with varying degrees of obstruction to interaction.
- Parental gender, age, education, origin, gestational age, prior parenting experience, and accommodation offered were significantly associated with perceived interaction obstruction.
- These factors influenced the degree to which parents felt hindered in interacting with their infants.
Conclusions:
- Nurses should tailor parental involvement strategies based on specific medical equipment used.
- Individual care plans must detail medical equipment's role and potential impact on parent-infant interaction and attachment.
- Addressing parental perceptions of technology is vital for facilitating attachment in the NICU.
Background:
It is well established that parents must interact with their new-born babies to facilitate attachment. However, very little is known about how parents perceive different types of medical technology products commonly used in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as barriers to their wish to interact with their infants.
Aim:
This study aims to examine to what extent the different medical technology products commonly used in the NICU are perceived by parents to be obstacles in their wish to interact with their babies.
Design And Methods:
In 2010, a cross-sectional survey, using a questionnaire specifically developed for this study, was conducted among the parents of children who were discharged from any of the five NICUs of the Västra Götaland region in Sweden. A consecutive sample of 248 parents participated, and multiple regressions and t-tests were used to analyse the data.
Results:
The parents generally perceived the various medical technology products differently, according to the perceived level of obstruction. The variables of gender, age, educational level, origin, gestational age, previous experience of being a parent, and the offer of accommodation at the NICU were significantly associated with the perceived level of obstruction in the parents' wish to interact with their baby while the baby was being treated with different medical technology products.
Conclusion:
The primary implication for practice is that to facilitate attachment, nurses should involve different categories of parents in different ways in the care of their children, depending on the equipment being used in the treatment of the children. Thus, the individual care plan should explicitly include the details of the specific medical equipment, because although its use is medically beneficial for the child, it is associated with potential liabilities regarding parent-child interaction and, consequently, regarding parent-child attachment.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:15Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
00:55Parental Care
01:27Parentral Nutrition: Centeral and Peripheral Parental Nutrition
PN can be administered through two primary routes:
1. Central Parenteral Nutrition (CPN):
CPN involves delivering a high concentration of nutrients through a large vein. This is typically achieved using a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) or,...
01:15Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.