Abstract
To identify important factors that influence mothers' perceptions of engaging in exercise with their preterm infants. Qualitative, semistructured individual interviews. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Thirteen mothers of preterm infants who were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Two researchers conducted interviews with mothers in English or Spanish. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Mothers tended to view infant exercise as beneficial but feared for the safety of their infants. They perceived nurses as experts who could safely exercise their infants but feared that they themselves might harm their infants. Factors that influenced their beliefs included previous experiences with infant exercise and views regarding the fragility or the strength of their own infants. Mothers identified nurses, doctors, family members, and research studies as trusted sources of information on exercise efficacy and safety. Understanding and addressing mothers' perceptions is a crucial component of a nursing intervention that teaches parents to do assisted exercises at home with their preterm infants.
Highlights
MethodsParticipantsThe Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), approved this study
Understanding and addressing mothers’ perceptions is a crucial component of a nursing intervention that teaches parents to do assisted exercises at home with their preterm infants
For the past few years, a team of nurse and physician scientists has implemented a novel research program designed to mitigate these impairments through augmented physical activity in hospitalized preterm infants, a true paradigm shift in the care of this fragile and vulnerable population
Summary
ParticipantsThe Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), approved this study. The research personnel screened the medical records of infants in the NICU at the UC Irvine Medical Center and recruited mothers (18 years and older) of preterm infants with a gestational age at birth of between 23 and 34 weeks who had reached 30 weeks post-conceptual age at the time of recruitment for this study. The exclusion criteria restricted the study to mothers who had infants who were healthy despite being preterm. The mothers had no prior experience with an exercise intervention for their preterm infants. Mothers who met these criteria were contacted either by phone or at the bedside in the NICU by a researcher who provided study information and invited them to participate
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