But increased parental involvement in pain management does not decrease parental stress
MONDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Parents who participate in an intervention to increase involvement in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) infant pain management take a more active role in infant pain care, and have increased role attainment after discharge, according to a study published online Aug. 22 in Pediatrics.
Linda S. Franck, Ph.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues investigated the feasibility of increasing parental involvement in infant pain management in the NICU, and its effect on parents' stress and post-discharge parenting competence and confidence. A total of 84 parents in the intervention group received a pain information booklet and instructions on infant comforting techniques in addition to a generic NICU care booklet; and a group of 85 controls received only the generic NICU care booklet. Post-intervention Parent Stressor Scale: NICU (PSS: NICU) scores were the primary outcomes, and parent attitudes about infant pain, nursing pain assessment, and parenting competence and role attainment after discharge were the secondary outcomes.
The investigators found no difference in PSS: NICU scores between the two groups. There were significant differences were found for satisfaction with pain information, being shown infant pain cues and comforting techniques, nursing pain assessment, and parent preference for involvement during painful procedures with favorable results for the intervention group. Higher role attainment after discharge was found for the intervention versus the control group. Both groups wanted information and involvement, and highly valued attention to infant pain.
"Parents in the intervention group were better prepared to take an active role in infant pain care and had more positive views about their role attainment in the post-discharge period," the authors write.
Abstract
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