Recommendations for enhancing psychosocial support of NICU parents through staff education and support

Abstract

Providing psychosocial support to parents whose infants are hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can improve parents' functioning as well as their relationships with their babies. Yet, few NICUs offer staff education that teaches optimal methods of communication with parents in distress. Limited staff education in how to best provide psychosocial support to families is one factor that may render those who work in the NICU at risk for burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress syndrome. Staff who develop burnout may have further reduced ability to provide effective support to parents and babies. Recommendations for providing NICU staff with education and support are discussed. The goal is to deliver care that exemplifies the belief that providing psychosocial care and support to the family is equal in importance to providing medical care and developmental support to the baby.

The five‐factor model of personality, work stress and professional quality of life in neonatal intensive care unit nurses

“…Clearly, more research is needed to identify further antecedents of professional quality of life in neonatal nurses. Furthermore, there is a need for research designed to confirm the proposed benefits of education, support and training interventions in restoring, maintaining and enhancing neonatal nurses’ professional quality of life (Braithwaite, ; Hall et al., ).…”

The impact of an individualised neonatal parent support programme on parental stress: a quasi‐experimental study

“…Training NICU nurses to use person-centred communication skills has been reported to be effective in reducing parental stress without the use of any particular communicative intervention. However, Hall et al (35) found that NICU nurses might not be trained in communication with parents in distress and therefore not prepared to respond to parents' stress and meet their psychosocial needs. In the present study, all staff in the NICU received training in person-centred communication before the start of the study, but one limitation of the introduction might have been that the nurses at the NICU did not have the possibility to use the new communication style for a longer period of time before the study started.…”

Parental experiences of family‐centred care from admission to discharge in the neonatal intensive care unit

“…enhanced staff training during orientation), the qualitative data make clear the fact that FCC should ideally be a part of ongoing education for staff working in NICU. It is recognised in the literature that NICU staff working in a highly stressful environment need ongoing support, education and tools in order to be able to provide FCC and adequate support to families . We therefore intend to continue integrating FCC into the unit and engaging and training staff in the benefits of FCC.…”