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Marie Aberg Petersson

Kalmar Hospital, Sweden

Presentation Title:

Parents’ in NICU experiences of participating in family health conversations

Abstract

Background: Parents to a critically ill infant requiring neonatal intensive care often experience high level of emotional stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Worrying about the infant’s health and survival, feeling helpless, experiencing loss of control and not recognizing one’s reactions are distressful for the parents and for the parental system. Also, parent-child bonding can be impaired, with consequences for the child's growth and development and with a decreased family functioning. Interactions within the family and with the staff have an important function in the process of becoming a parent and a family. This process would benefit from a systemic approach, focusing on the family as a unit, as unique individuals, and as parents with unique needs and experiences. Research show that parents want conversations with nurses for support and hope. The aim was to describe parents’ experiences of a family support nursing intervention, Family Health Conversation (FamHC). 

Method: Family interviews were performed with 12 parents from three neonatal intensive care units in southern Sweden six months after the intervention was completed. A semi-structured interview guide was used. The interviews lasted between 20 to 45 minutes. Qualitative content analysis was used in the analysis. 

Findings: Findings show that parents found the FamHC to be supportive and bringing about a sense of relief. By sharing their individual experiences, their understanding of the situation and each other was enhanced. They felt confirmed by the conversational leaders and their absent or confused feelings were normalized. Parents experienced that the reflective processes were helpful by “working through” the unexpected event. This process also meant that positive aspects became visible from what was previously experienced as entirely negative experiences. The parents described increased self-confidence and self-knowledge. These improvements became somewhat of a general approach in everyday situations. Parents described that they gained strengths as a couple from learning to know each other in a new way. Family cohesion and well-being was also strengthened, and the child became more of a shared responsibility. 

Conclusion: The conversations seemed to meet parents’ needs in a distressful situation when their newborn needed intensive care. Also, family cohesion and well-being were strengthened.

Biography

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