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Enhancing person‐centred communication in NICU : a comparative thematic analysis
Author(s) -
Weis Janne,
Zoffmann Vibeke,
Egerod Ingrid
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
nursing in critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1478-5153
pISSN - 1362-1017
DOI - 10.1111/nicc.12062
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , dyad , popularity , neonatal intensive care unit , intervention (counseling) , nursing , psychology , qualitative research , medicine , focus group , developmental psychology , pediatrics , social psychology , social science , marketing , sociology , business
Aims and objectives Aims of this article were (a) to explore how parents of premature infants experience guided family‐centred care (GFCC), and (b) to compare how parents receiving GFCC versus standard care (SC) describe nurse‐parent communication in the neonatal intensive care unit. Background Family‐centred care (FCC) is acknowledged as fundamental to supporting parents of premature infants, and communication is central to this practice. Accordingly, nurses need good communication skills. GFCC is an intervention developed to improve nurse‐parent communication in the neonatal intensive care unit. This intervention helps nurses to realize person‐centred communication as an approach to optimize contemporary practice. Design Our qualitative study had a descriptive and comparative design using semi‐structured interviews to explore the parent's experience of GFCC. Methods We conducted 10 dyad interviews with parents ( n = 20) and two individual interviews with mothers of premature infants ( n = 2). Parents in the intervention group versus SC group were 13 versus 9. Thematic analysis was applied. Findings GFCC was generally experienced as supportive. Three interrelated themes were identified that illustrated how the intervention helped parents cope as persons, parents and couples: (a) discovering and expressing emotions, (b) reaching a deeper level of communication, and (c) obtaining mutual understanding. In contrast, SC communication was more superficial and less structured. Factors such as inaccessibility of nurses, inability to ask for assistance and parent popularity impaired successful communication. Conclusion and implications for practice Our study suggested that compared to SC, GFCC provided structured delivery of supportive communication between nurses and parents of premature infants. The intervention promoted the discovery of the parents' individual preferences and concerns, which enabled more focused communication, and set the stage for better nurse‐parent and parent‐parent understanding. We recommend GFCC as a method to improve communication in the neonatal intensive care unit.