Peer support groups for families in Neonatology: Why and how to get started?

Dahan, Sonia; Bourque, Claude Julie; Reichherzer, Martin; Prince, Josée; Mantha, Ginette; Savaria, Mélissa; Janvier, Annie

doi:10.1111/apa.15312

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Generally, the Pandemic restrictions made it difficult to interact with peers [29]. Being together with other parents and sharing common experiences has been shown to meet parents' emotional needs and help them cope during these extremely unordinary times [30]; additionally, peer groups have proved to constitute a useful measure for NICU parents [31]. As NICUs discontinued organizing parent support groups and closed parent rooms, some mothers organized their own support groups.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Starting parenting in isolation a qualitative user-initiated study of parents’ experiences with hospitalization in Neonatal Intensive Care units during the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2021

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Background Worldwide, strict infection control measures including visitation regulations were implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic at Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). These regulations gave restricted access for parents to their hospitalized infants. The consequence was limited ability to involve in the care of their infants. At Oslo University Hospital entry to NICU was denied to all except healthy mothers in March 2020. The absolute access ban for fathers lasted for 10 weeks. The aim of this study was to explore parental experiences with an infant hospitalized in the NICU during this absolute visitation ban period. Methods We invited post discharge all parents of surviving infants that had been hospitalized for at least 14 days to participate. They were interviewed during autumn 2020 using an explorative semi-structured interview approach. Data were analyzed via inductive thematic analysis. Results Nine mothers and four fathers participated. The COVID-19 regulations strongly impacted the parent’s experiences of their stay. The fathers’ limited access felt life-impacting. Parents struggled to become a family and raised their voices to be heard. Not being able to experience parenthood together led to emotional loneliness. The fathers struggled to learn how to care for their infant. The regulations might lead to a postponed attachment. On the other hand, of positive aspect the parents got some quietness. Being hospitalized during this first wave was experienced as exceptional and made parents seeking alliances by other parents. Social media was used to keep in contact with the outside world. Conclusions The regulations had strong negative impact on parental experiences during the NICU hospitalization. The restriction to fathers’ access to the NICU acted as a significant obstacle to early infant-father bonding and led to loneliness and isolation by the mothers. Thus, these COVID-19 measures might have had adverse consequences for families.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Starting parenting in isolation a qualitative user-initiated study of parents’ experiences with hospitalization in Neonatal Intensive Care units during the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2021

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“…Parent support groups can lower parental stress and anxiety, encourage bonding, and clarify roles ( Dahan et al, 2020 ; O'Brien et al, 2018 ). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one-hour parent support group meetings were held each week in support of this research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging parents of hospitalized neonates during a pandemic

Duff

Curnen

Reed

et al. 2021

Journal of Neonatal Nursing

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Background Engaging families through patient- and family-centered care (PFCC), the NICU nurse upholds the core concepts providing holistic care. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic altered the daily routine of visiting parents to hospitals around the nation, particularly for pediatric and neonatal populations. Methods This paper describes innovative strategies implemented in a large Level IV NICU to promote the core concepts of PFCC that ensured parent-infant bonding while limiting exposure to a pandemic infection, such as COVID-19. Discussion Strategies discussed include virtual visits between parents and infants to promote bonding; virtual parent support groups to encourage information sharing; remote music therapy options which included take-home music kits; diaries, albums, and celebration boards to support participation; among others. Parent collaboration throughout implementation promoted partnership. Conclusion Utilizing a variety of unique and innovative approaches to promote PFCC strategies became a critical component of routine planning and care delivery for one large neonatal intensive care unit.

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“…This is remarkable given that clinicians often encourage parent-to-parent interactions following the initial diagnosis of pediatric HL (Nickbakht et al, 2021). Such a recommendation makes sense given that previous research (Dahan et al, 2020; demonstrated benefits of parent-to-parent support for parents of children with diagnosed health challenges. Specifically, the research showed that parent-to-parent support helped parents with validating their emotions, building trust, and coping with the challenges associated with pediatric illness.…”

Section: The Value Of Parent-to-parent Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Stories of Parents’ Experiences with Infant Hearing-Loss Screening and Diagnosis in the United States

Barker¹

2022

Preprint

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Objectives. For the past 20 years, birthing hospitals in the United States have required newborns to undergo a hearing loss screening prior to leaving the hospital. Since the initial newborn hearing screening mandates, there has been much outcome research documenting the successes and barriers of the program. However, little research has worked to identify and understand the parents’ experiences during this process. We propose that elucidating the parents’ experiences with newborn hearing loss screening and diagnosis is a first step toward understanding their varied experiences and has the potential to ultimately improve hearing healthcare for both children and their families. Thus, to better understand parents’ subjective experience, we asked the following research question: what are parents’ experiences with the early hearing loss screening and diagnosis of their infants in the United States? Design. The current study used a prospective, cross-sectional qualitative design utilizing semi-structured narrative interviews. Specifically, we used snowball sampling and recruited 13 hearing parents with a child with hearing loss born in the United States and diagnosed with hearing loss no later than 14 months of age between the years of 2016 to 2020. We used thematic analysis to uncover common themes across parent experiences. Saturation was reached at Interview #4, thus no further sampling was needed.Findings. Two major themes emerged from the data: (1) hearing healthcare experiences and (2) parents’ early experiences with their child’s HL. Subthemes were also uncovered. Three emergent subthemes related to healthcare experiences included: (1) downplayed newborn hearing screening referrals, (2) clinician-centered care, and (3) medical expenses and health coverage. The three subthemes of the second theme were: (1) parent-to-parent support, (2) “mom guilt”, and (3) a new reality.Conclusion. The present study’s subjective accounts from parents about their infants’ early hearing detection experiences revealed several different subthemes that emerged from the same, mandated newborn experience in US families across the country. Themes uncovered in these narratives support the need for a family-centered approach to the hearing screening and hearing loss diagnosis process in the United States. Action steps such as encouraging clinicians to create opportunities for parent-to-parent support for hearing parents affected by newborn hearing loss could move the field of pediatric hearing health care closer toward a family-centered approach. Specifically, such steps could address families’ concerns and expectations surrounding newborn hearing screening and hearing loss while simultaneously working toward the Joint Commission on Infant Hearing’s goals of the earliest hearing loss detection, diagnosis, and intervention for these infants.

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Peer support groups for families in Neonatology: Why and how to get started?

Cited by 27 publications

References 19 publications

Starting parenting in isolation a qualitative user-initiated study of parents’ experiences with hospitalization in Neonatal Intensive Care units during the COVID-19 pandemic

Starting parenting in isolation a qualitative user-initiated study of parents’ experiences with hospitalization in Neonatal Intensive Care units during the COVID-19 pandemic

Engaging parents of hospitalized neonates during a pandemic

Exploring the Stories of Parents’ Experiences with Infant Hearing-Loss Screening and Diagnosis in the United States

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