Caregiver Presence and Involvement in a Canadian Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: An Observational Cohort Study

Presence in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a vital step for caregivers initiating involvement, such as skin-to-skin contact, holding or singing/reading to their newborn. Little is known about caregiver presence and involvement in Canadian NICU's context by caregiver type (mother, father, other), and the association between maternal presence and key maternal and newborn characteristics.

The primary objective was to examine the presence and involvement of family caregivers in the NICU. The secondary objective was to examine the relationship between maternal presence and maternal and newborn characteristics.

A prospective observational cohort study in an open bay setting of an Eastern Canadian NICU. Presence (physically present at the newborn's bedside) and involvement (e.g., skin-to-skin, singing/reading) were tracked daily by families in the NICU until discharge. Demographic information was also collected.

Participants included 142 mothers and their newborns. Mothers were present 8.7 h/day, fathers were present 4.1 h/day, and other caregivers were present 1.8 h/day in the NICU in the first 34 days. Mothers were involved in care activities 50% of the time they were present in the NICU, whereas fathers and other caregivers were spending 20% and 6% of their time respectively. Regression identified maternal age, distance to home, parity, birthweight, and length of stay to be statistically significant variables related to maternal presence.

There is variation in presence and involvement by caregiver type. Targeted interventions to maintain and increase mothers, fathers and other caregivers' presence and involvement in care throughout their stay in the NICU are recommended.