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Having an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is psychologically stressful, and many parents experience symptoms of traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Parents need immediate and sufficient support during this time, yet the kind and quality of support they receive can vary between units. A new qualitative study from Finland interviewed 15 parents whose infants had been treated in NICUs at six hospitals. Parents described four main forms of support that helped them, from guidance in infant care to mental health services. At the same time, important forms of support, such as peer support, were missing in many NICUs, leaving parents without help they considered important.
Every year, almost 30 million families worldwide have a sick or preterm infant who needs neonatal intensive care. The NICU can be a highly stressful environment, and this stress can disrupt early interaction and bonding between parents and their infant. Psychosocial support aims to ease these effects, and it can come from healthcare professionals, peers, family, and friends. Understanding which forms of support parents find most helpful is an important step toward meeting their needs.
To explore this question, researchers interviewed 15 parents in Finland, including 12 mothers and three fathers. All of their infants had been treated in a NICU within the past two years. The infants were born between 24 and 38 weeks of pregnancy and stayed in the NICU for an average of 48 days.
The study found that parents experienced support in four main areas: parenting, their sense of security, social support, and mental well-being. Support for parenting included guidance on everyday infant care, such as handling, diaper changing, washing, and breastfeeding. Parents also valued being encouraged to interact with their infant through skin-to-skin contact, singing, and reading. Caring for their infant together with health professionals and being involved in care planning and decision-making made them active members of the care team. A sense of security grew when nurses and doctors were compassionate and calm, and when help was immediately available. Notably, parents found it reassuring when the same nurses cared for their infant and when responsibilities between staff and parents were clearly defined.
Beyond the care team, social support played an important role. Many parents described peer support as one of the most important forms of help, whether through support groups, online communities, or contact with other NICU families. Spouses, family, and friends also helped by offering emotional support and taking on daily tasks, such as bringing food or caring for other children. For their mental well-being, parents valued early meetings with crisis workers, information about how trauma affects the mind and body, and conversations about their mental health with familiar nurses.
These findings show that parents benefit from many different forms of support and that their needs are individual. However, the level and quality of support varied between NICUs, and some parents had to wait a long time for psychological help. Systematically asking parents about their experiences can help neonatal nurses and other health professionals identify what each family needs. The authors also suggest expanding access to peer support, which was available in only a few hospitals.
Paper available at: Parents' Experiences of Psychosocial Support in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study | Journal of Clinical Nursing
Full list of authors: Seppänen, H.; Talus, E.; Sankilampi, U.; Koivula, K.; Luoma, I.; Pölkki, T.
DOI: 10.1111/jocn.70417
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