Abstract
A significant group of parents with babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) fail to build strong relationships with the nurses caring for their babies. Many parents feel unsupported and unwelcome at the bedside despite widespread implementation of family-centered care practices. The purpose of this study was to examine these relationships and explore effective and ineffective attitudes and practices among NICU nurses. Parents were asked to identify key nursing behaviors that made them feel supported or unsupported as NICU parents and rate their comfort around key NICU parenting behaviors. Nurses were asked to identify specific characteristics of parents that required more nursing time to prepare for discharge and discuss characteristics of families thought to be more difficult. The study was a descriptive correlational study of cross-sectional design surveying 45 NICU moms, 4 NICU dads, and 59 NICU nurses about their experiences. Data was analyzed using chi-square, Pearson product-moment correlations, and descriptive statistics with a qualitative component. Results: Overall, both groups reported high levels of parental engagement and success in the NICU. Parents who were a consistent presence in the NICU and formed relationships based on mutual trust were most successful and most engaged in the NICU environment. Parents thought that nurses who made them feel unwelcome in the baby's room, did not trust them, judged them or made them feel unworthy, and were not friendly made them feel the least successful.