Implementing Guidelines for NICU Parent Presence: Effects on Parent and Infant Stress

Area of Science:

• Neonatal care
• Pediatric psychology
• Family-centered care

Background:

• Parent-infant relationships are crucial for managing neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stress.
• Parent presence and engagement are key components supporting these relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) parent and infant outcomes before and after implementing an intervention.
• The intervention focused on increasing parent presence and engagement through specific communication guidelines.

Main Methods:

• A convenience sample of 40 families pre-intervention and 38 families post-intervention was studied.
• Data collected included parent presence, skin-to-skin care, breastfeeding, parental stress, and infant outcomes (weight gain, length of stay, feeding status, stress).
• Infants were scored using the Neonatal Medical Index to ensure group comparability.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were found in parent presence, skin-to-skin care, or breastfeeding rates between groups.
• Significant decreases in stress-related outcomes were observed for mothers, fathers, and infants in the post-intervention group.
• Infant feeding outcomes showed improvement in the post-intervention group.

Conclusions:

• Specific guidelines for parent presence may encourage parental engagement with infants in the NICU.
• This intervention positively impacted parental and infant stress levels.
• Family-centered care guidelines can enhance NICU experiences and outcomes.