Abstract
AimTo gain in-depth knowledge of mothers’ and fathers’ experiences of the whole trajectory of an early in-home care programme supported by video consultations with a neonatal nurse.DesignA qualitative interview study.MethodsData were collected through dyadic semi-structured interviews with mothers and fathers participating in virtual early in-home care programmes and were subjected to inductive content analysis.FindingsThe mothers and fathers were anxious about mastering the care of their premature infants at the start of the early in-home care phase but gradually developed confidence by the completion of the early in-home care programme. Being at home during the early in-home care programme gave the mothers and fathers an opportunity to test their decision making concerning the care of the infant while having the ability to obtain support from nurses when needed.ConclusionOur findings indicate that the trajectory of early in-home care programmes combined with video consultations contributes to parents’ increased confidence as mothers and fathers.Trial registrationClinical trial registration: REG-113-2014 and SJ-431.
Highlights
Premature birth, defined as the birth of an infant before the gestational age of 37 weeks [1] is occurring increasingly frequently [2]
Category: becoming comfortable with the idea of early in-home care In the early phase of admission to the neonatal ward (NW), the possibility of an early in-home care programme seemed distant to the mothers and fathers; the idea planted a seed of an expectation for the future
The parents began to wonder if such a programme was something that they wanted to do, and they stressed that the experience of not being pushed was important
Summary
Premature birth, defined as the birth of an infant before the gestational age of 37 weeks [1] is occurring increasingly frequently [2]. In Denmark, approximately 6.4% of all live infants are born prematurely, which amounts to approximately 3700 infants per year [3]. Premature infants need care and treatment in the neonatal ward (NW) until they are physically stable. In the last phase of hospitalization, most hospitals offer parents in-home care programmes [4,5,6]. Inhome care programmes provide an opportunity for infants and parents to go home to continue tube feeding, establish breastfeeding and strengthen family bonding [5]. The participation criteria are usually that the infant is born prematurely, older than 34 weeks’ gestation at
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