Emotional responses of parents participating for the first time in caregiving for their baby in a neonatal unit

Background: Parents of term and preterm infants hospitalised at birth experience a stressful situation. They are considered as primary caregivers in neonatal units and are encouraged to participate in their child's care.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to analyse the feelings of parents participating for the first time in caregiving for their baby admitted at birth in a neonatal unit in France and to compare the feelings reported by parents of term and preterm infants.

Methods: An online survey was created in 2014 for parents who had a baby hospitalised at birth. We analysed parents' responses to this open-ended question: "How did you feel when you participated in caregiving for your baby for the first time?" using a qualitative discourse analysis by two analysts. Themes were identified and coded.

Results: Between February 2014 and March 2018, 1603 parents of preterm infants and 239 parents of term infants responded to this open-ended question. Twenty-five per cent of parents expressed positive feelings exclusively (confidence, ease, joy, pride, feeling supported by healthcare professionals, by their family and feeling of being a parent), 41% expressed negative feelings exclusively (stress, fear, feeling of being judged, frustration, anger, uselessness and clumsiness) and 34% expressed mixed feelings (both positive and negative). Parents of term infants expressed less frequent feelings of stress and fear than parents of preterm infants: with a relative risk (RR) of 0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.56, 0.87. Parents of term babies more frequently expressed feelings of frustration: RR 2.40 (95% CI 1.33, 4.32).

Conclusions: Infant- and Family-Centred Developmental Care supportive programmes are recommended within neonatal units in order to improve the experience of parents participating in caregiving for their baby hospitalised at birth.