Perceptions of parent–staff communication in Neonatal Intensive Care: The findings from a rating scale

Abstract

A rating scale has been developed assessing parental perceptions of the quality of communication received at two time points during the first 2 weeks following birth (see [Reid, T., Bramwell, R., Booth, N., Weindling, M., 2007. Perceptions of parent-staff communication in Neonatal Intensive Care: The development of a rating scale. Journal of Neonatal Nursing 13 (1), 24–35]). This paper explores the findings according to various parental and infant characteristics, for example parental gender, infant illness, transfer status and mode of birth. There were no differences in mothers' and fathers' communication ratings, and infant illness did not appear to influence ratings significantly. Parents who were transferred from their planned place of birth had more negative ratings at the later assessment. Previous negative experiences such as previous preterm birth, poor reproductive history or history of previous poor outcome did not appear to unduly influence communication ratings, though the numbers of such parents were relatively small in this study. Mode of birth appeared to influence communication ratings for mothers at the early assessment, as ratings were more positive for elective caesarian birth compared to those giving birth normally or by emergency caesarian section. Analyses which explored differences in subscale scores according to socioeconomic status, birth order, pregnancy risk, maternal or paternal age, cohabitation status or presence of congenital anomaly revealed no significant influence on communication scores. The study also examined ratings between the earlier and later assessments, and results revealed significantly increased negative ratings over time. There were also differences in ratings between nurses, nurse practitioners and medical staff, revealing that parents were able to discriminate differing clinical roles in NICU.