Combining Evidence-Based Interventions to Support Mental Health in Neonatal Intensive Care Families.

Abstract

Families of infants requiring admission and care within the NICU experience a multitude of overwhelming stressors and challenges related to the severity and duration of their infant's illness and their unique life circumstances. These stressful experiences, traumas, and challenges can have long-term physical, emotional, financial, and psychological consequences for both the infant admitted to the NICU and their family. Combining evidence-based research and practices, family-centered care, enhanced multidisciplinary collaboration and communication, and mental health education into a multifaceted evidence-based mental health intervention will create opportunities for improved parental role attainment and infant attachment. The implementation of a standardized approach to providing comprehensive mental health support for families with infants needing NICU care will lower anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder rates leading to optimized family health and wellness and improved neurodevelopmental outcomes for their infants.