Study of Close Collaboration With Parents to Improve Family Centered Care and Readiness for Discharge in NICU Parents

What this Trial Is About

This research evaluates the effects of the Close Collaboration with Parents, a family-centered care approach for neonatal intensive care unit NICU staff, on parents of newborns in the NICU. The study compares experiences before and after this intervention, focusing on family-centered care quality as rated by parents, parental anxiety symptoms, and readiness for the infants discharge. The intervention is planned to be implemented from December 2023 through December 2024. The Close Collaboration with Parents intervention educates NICU healthcare staff to better observe infants individual needs, support parents in understanding and participating in their infants care, and involve parents in decision-making from early care through discharge preparation. Data will be collected during three phases before the intervention September to December 2023, during the intervention January to December 2024, and after January to April 2025. Parents and newborns admitted before and after the intervention form two groups for comparison. Participants will be parents of infants admitted to the NICU for at least two weeks. Researchers will collect data on family-centered care quality, parental anxiety, and discharge readiness around the infants discharge at about one month of age. Data will be pseudonymized and securely managed, with statistical analyses adjusting for factors like length of stay and parental mental health history. Participation spans from pre-intervention data collection through post-intervention follow-up, lasting over a year.

Close Collaboration and Discharge Readiness