1875 Kangaroo Mother Care in a Neonatal Context: Parents' Experiences of Information and Communication

Abstract

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is an evidence-based nursing practice with many benefits for children and parents. The purpose of this study was to describe mothers’ and fathers’ experiences of information and communication from the staff in connection with KMC and their experiences during the application of KMC. A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was performed. The sample consisted of 12 families (n = 20). The results show that the information and communication was experienced as both optimal and suboptimal including following themes: safe and confusing, satisfactory and unsatisfactory and enhanced self-esteem and lack of self-esteem. The experiences during application of KMC included belonging and alienation as well as happiness and anxiety. The overall theme showed that information and communication of KMC is both crucial and not crucial for parents to experience KMC as optimal nursing care. The conclusion is that staff in neonatal units, where the KMC is implicated, should review their practices regarding the process of information and communication between parents and staff. This requires further research into the implementation of communication theories for the staff in neonatal units in a satisfactory way for the parents.