Nurses' perceptions about neonatal intensive care units providing family‐centered care are associated with skin‐to‐skin contact implementation

• Published in: Pediatric investigation Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 61 - 65
• Main Authors: Aita, Marilyn, De Clifford‐Faugère, Gwenaëlle, Laporte, Geneviève, Colson, Sébastien, Feeley, Nancy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-03-2024; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Attitudes; Collaboration; Education; Hospitalization; Intensive care; Knowledge; Likert scale; Newborn babies; Nurses; Parents & parenting; Perceptions; Premature babies; Professionals; Questionnaires; Research Letter; France; Canada
• ISSN: 2574-2272; 2096-3726; 2574-2272
• DOI: 10.1002/ped4.12402

1 SSC implies simultaneous parental presence and helps to facilitate their involvement from the earliest hours of their preterm infants’ lives as this intervention is delivered by parents. 1 FCC has gained worldwide popularity in recent years to promote parental presence and active participation of parents in care during neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) hospitalization. 2 Both practices relate to developmental care (DC), which regroups specific interventions aimed at reducing stress and improving infant neurological development. 3 It is well recognized that promoting SSC and FCC are recommended in the NICU, given its many health benefits for preterm infants and parents. SSC has been found to favor maternal attachment, enhance paternal role achievement and interactive behavior, reduce maternal and paternal anxiety, and promote infants’ long-term cognitive development. 4,5 On the other hand, FCC can improve the clinical outcomes of preterm infants such as greater weight gain, as well as the psychological well-being of the parents. 6 More specifically, parental involvement in NICU care is associated with reduced infants’ length of hospital stay and collaboration with professionals increased parental satisfaction. 7 Daily maternal presence during NICU hospitalization is associated with a decrease in emotional and behavioral problems in school-age children. 8 Noteworthy, parental presence during NICU hospitalization with more frequent holding of their infant in their arms, is associated with better infants’ neurobehavioral development, such as better quality of movements and reduced arousal, at term equivalent age. 9 Given their benefits and driven by the DC philosophy, nurses should encourage SSC as well as FCC to provide parents with opportunities for collaboration and care involvement in the NICU. Secondary analysis was performed from a larger comparative international study that was conducted between October 2017 and July 2018, where 202 NICU nurses completed paper or online questionnaires on their perceptions about their unit provision of FCC and SSC. 11 Prior to the beginning of the study, ethical approval was obtained in both Canada (MP-21-2018-1854) and France (20181306005 and CNIL 2211490 v0). Training and education, and implementation refer to several aspects of the practice of SSC, including the availability of guidelines for its practice, proper training of health care professionals in SSC, interdisciplinary collaboration in supporting SSC, and adequate implementation on the unit. 12 Higher scores reflect more favorable perceptions.