Parent Activation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Area of Science:

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care
• Health services research
• Parental health behaviors

Background:

• Patient activation (PA) is crucial for adult health management and outcomes.
• Parental activation (P-PAM) is a comparable concept for parents managing a child's health.
• Limited data exists on P-PAM in parents of hospitalized neonates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine temporal trends in P-PAM among parents of neonates admitted to a NICU.
• To investigate associations between P-PAM and sociodemographic, neonate, and clinical characteristics.
• To compare P-PAM with adult and pediatric literature.

Main Methods:

• Parents of neonates in a level-IV NICU were enrolled (n=96 adults, 64 neonates).
• P-PAM was measured at admission, discharge, and 30-day follow-up.
• Linear mixed regression models analyzed associations with health literacy, maternal/paternal status, and surgical diagnosis.

Main Results:

• Mean P-PAM scores increased from admission (81.8) to discharge (88.8) and 30-day follow-up (86.8).
• Higher P-PAM scores correlated with greater health literacy (p=0.002) and were higher in mothers (p=0.040).
• Parents of neonates with surgical diagnoses had lower P-PAM scores (p=0.003).

Conclusions:

• Parental activation in the NICU setting is higher than previously reported.
• P-PAM scores improve from admission to discharge and post-discharge.
• Further research is needed to link P-PAM to long-term health outcomes.