Parents' Need for Support From Family and Friends During Their Preterm Infants' Hospitalisation: A Cross-National Qualitative Study.
Emma Kainiemi, Anna Axelin, Helle Haslund-Thomsen and 2 others
PMID 39740080WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of preterm infants in NICUs needed social, emotional and practical support from family and friends.
Their needs changed over time, and staff attitudes and visiting rules shaped whether that support arrived.
Key findings
01Parents expressed a strong need for and appreciation of social, emotional and practical support from family and friends during the NICU stay.
02Parents said their support needs changed during the NICU stay: privacy was wanted early, and emotional support grew as the infant stabilised.
03Staff attitudes and visiting restrictions shaped whether family and friends could support parents.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Convenience sampling was used, so the parents may not represent all parents of preterm infants. The study was done in Nordic NICUs with paid parental leave of 9 months or longer, so the findings may not transfer to settings with different family leave, visiting rules or NICU architecture. Parents whose infants were critically ill were excluded, so the most acute NICU experiences may be missing. The study did not measure outcomes, so it cannot show that involving family and friends improves parent or infant well-being. Parents were interviewed during hospitalisation, so post-discharge support needs were reported as expectations rather than observed over time.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that NICU family and friends improve parent well-being or infant care. The study described parents' experiences and support needs, not outcomes, and some parents found visitor restrictions reassuring.