Parent Identification of Stress Cues in NICU Infants: A Pilot Study

Aim: To help first time NICU mothers identify signs of stress in their infants and evaluate the impact of this education on the mother’s confidence and engagement in caring for their babies. Background: Given the immaturity of their body systems, premature infants are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of the stress response. It is therefore common practice in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to minimize painful and stressful experiences through interventions such as clustered care, swaddling, non-nutritive sucking, and skin-to-skin contact. Despite the frequent discussion of stress and its consequences, many NICU parents are unsure of how to tell when their child is stressed and how to help them. To empower parents to engage in infant care confidently and promote appropriate parent-infant bonding, it is important to equip them with the knowledge to feel comfortable and safe when interacting with their babies.Method: This was a pilot feasibility study with quasi-experimental design using a single group posttest (n=6). Results were analyzed quantitatively for response means and qualitatively for themes.Findings: After the intervention, 100% of the mothers felt that they could be more involved in their child’s care than before, and 83% of mothers felt as though they could better identify signs of stress in their babies. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that this type of intervention is feasible to implement in a NICU setting and is likely to be beneficial for parents as they learn to care for their children.Bachelor of Scienc