Healthcare Professionals' Views on Parental Participation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

PURPOSE: To examine the associations between age, gender, and profession in relation to the perceived importance of parental participation in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

DESIGN AND METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional design was used. Participants were recruited consecutively from all 40 existing NICU units in Sweden. A total of 443 healthcare professionals (372 nurses and 71 physicians) participated in the study. Participants completed the Swedish version of the Empowerment of Parents in the Intensive Care-Neonatology (EMPATHIC-N) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses.

RESULTS: The findings indicated that profession and age, but not gender, had an overall perceived importance on how nurses and physicians rated specific aspects of parental participation in NICUs.

CONCLUSIONS: Being a nurse, compared to a physician, was associated with an increase in overall perceived importance of parental participation in NICUs. These differences may affect and may be crucial for how parents take a part in the care of their infant and also for how they adapt to the parental role.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses and physicians require education and training that support parental participation based on age and their different roles, rather than simply conveying information about the technical medical aspects of NICU care. For a sustainable outcome all team members should be invited to discuss cases from their perspectives.