0199/2015 - Parental needs and roles on neonatal intensive care: review of Portuguese guidelines
Necessidades e papéis parentais em cuidados intensivos neonatais: revisão dos guias portugueses
Publicado
Author:
• Mariana Amorim - Amorim, Mariana - EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto - <mariana.amorim@ispup.up.pt>Co-author(s):
• Elisabete Alves - Alves, Elisabete - Departamento de Epidemiologia Clínica, Medicina Preditiva e Saúde Pública, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto - <ealves@med.up.pt>• Henrique Barros - Barros, Henrique - EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto Porto, PT - <hbarros@med.up.pt>
• Susana Silva - Silva, S. - Porto, Outro País/Another Country - EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto - <susilva@med.up.pt>
Thematic Area:
Ciências SociaisAbstract:
AbstractObjective: To analyze the parental needs and roles included on Neonatal Intensive Care Unit guidelines.
Methods: We conducted a thematic content analysis of 33 guidelines (28 consensus and 5 documents for parents) freely available on the Portuguese Society of Pediatrics’ website in august 2014.
Results: These documents include, mainly, information needs, child care activities performed by the parents and the respective responsibilities in decision-making regarding the children’s health. Furthermore, parents’ and family’s characteristics were mentioned as risk factors for prematurity and perinatal diseases. The psychosocial consequences of parenthood experienced in Neonatal Intensive Care Units, as well as the adequacy of its environmental characteristics to parental needs, emerged as topics less frequently mentioned. Issues related to the safety and comfort, confidence of parents in health care and social support were rarely included.
Conclusions: The results reflect sociocultural norms associated to intensive parenting, which is exclusively child centered, highly emotional and performed under health professionals’ guidance. It matters to spread guidelines that guide the integration of family centered care on Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’s dynamics.
