Involving the Parents in Caring for Hospitalized Premature Infant in the NICU: A qualitative study

Introduction: Nurses have important role in providing emotional support, decreasing stress and educating the parents to involve them in care of premature infant. The aim of this study was discovering the NICU Nurses’ perception of involving the parents in care of infants. Methods: This qualitative study was carried out based on interpretative phenomenological approach.  The study setting was three separate NICUs of three teaching hospitals affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Eleven in-service NICU nurses were selected purposefully. Data collection was performed through semi-structured interviews and field notes and was analyzed using the seven-stage Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner approach. Results: One of the important themes emerging in this study was “Patience to Progress” that included four subthemes of “Developing intellectual movement”, “Sending off the family to overpass the crisis”, “step by step until parents’ independency” and “help to correct decision making”. Conclusion: Nurses’ experiences showed that there is developing intellectual movement on accepting the parents’ presence philosophy and their participation in the NICUs. This changing in nurses’ perception has occurred because of emphasis on family and NIDCAP importance. In nurses’ experiences involving parents in the care of premature infant, is gradual and needs effort, patience, flexibility and continuous directing along with change of attitude.