Maternal Involvement in Non-pharmacological Pain Management Interventions for Neonates

Resource-limited countries like Malawi often face shortages of essential medications, often leaving neonates with unmet pain management needs and contributing to poor neonatal outcomes. Involving parents to provide nonpharmacological pain management interventions (NPPMI) would be a safer and cost-effective strategy to promote maternal involvement and improve neonatal outcomes.

This study was conducted to explore maternal involvement in nonpharmacological pain management during painful procedures in Chatinkha Neonatal Unit at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.

A descriptive qualitative design was used to collect data from in-depth interviews conducted with 20 parents of neonates who had undergone painful procedures in the neonatal unit. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Four themes emerged from the study: (1) parent knowledge on involvement and NPPMI, (2) healthcare worker practices in involving parents in pain management, (3) parent desire for involvement in pain management, and (4) barriers to parent involvement in neonatal pain management.

This study showed that maternal involvement in neonatal pain management is poor and the use of NPPMI is substandard in Malawian neonatal units. A contributing factor is lack of parental knowledge, which results from lack of education and support from healthcare providers. To address this, clear protocols to guide maternal involvement in pain management are needed. Future studies should aim at designing and evaluating structured educational programs for both healthcare providers and parents on the use of NPPMI.