Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2013 Nov-Dec;42(6):641-54.
doi: 10.1111/1552-6909.12255.

Maternal satisfaction with administering infant interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit

Diane Holditch-Davis, Rosemary White-Traut, Janet Levy, Kristi L Williams, Donna Ryan, Susan Vonderheid
Comparative Study

Maternal satisfaction with administering infant interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit

Diane Holditch-Davis et al. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2013 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To examine mothers' satisfaction with administering interventions for their preterm infants and with the helpfulness of the study nurse by comparing massage with auditory, tactile, visual, and vestibular stimulation (ATVV intervention), kangaroo care, and education about equipment needed at home and to explore whether mother and infant characteristics affected maternal satisfaction ratings.

Design: Three-group experimental design.

Setting: Four neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) (two in North Carolina, two in Illinois).

Participants: Two hundred and eight (208) preterm infants and their mothers.

Methods: When the infant was no longer critically ill, mother/infant dyads were randomly assigned to ATVV, kangaroo care, or the education group all taught by study nurses. At discharge and 2 months corrected age, mothers completed questionnaires.

Results: All groups were satisfied with the intervention and with nurse helpfulness, and the degree of satisfaction did not differ among them. Intervention satisfaction, but not nurse helpfulness, was related to recruitment site. Older, married, and minority mothers were less satisfied with the intervention but only at 2 months. Higher anxiety was related to lower intervention satisfaction at discharge and lower ratings of nurse helpfulness at discharge and 2 months. More depressive symptoms were related to lower nurse helpfulness ratings at 2 months.

Conclusions: Mothers were satisfied with interventions for their infants regardless of the intervention performed. Maternal satisfaction with the intervention was related to recruitment site, maternal demographic characteristics, and maternal psychological distress, especially at 2 months. Thus, nursing interventions that provide mothers with a role to play in the infant's care during hospitalization are particularly likely to be appreciated by mothers.

Keywords: kangaroo care; massage; maternal distress; mothers; preterm infants; satisfaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ahn HY, Lee J, Shin HJ. Kangaroo care on premature infant growth and maternal attachment and post-partum depression in South Korea. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics. 2010;56(5):342–344. - PubMed
    1. Allen EC, Manuel JC, Legault C, Naughton MJ, Pivor C, O’Shea TM. Perception of child vulnerability among mothers of former premature infants. Pediatrics. 2004;113(2):267–273. - PubMed
    1. Arivabene JC, Tyrrell MA. Kangaroo mother method: mothers’ experiences and contributions to nursing. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem. 2010;18(2):262–268. - PubMed
    1. Bell PL. Adolescent mothers’ perceptions of the neonatal intensive care unit environment. Journal of Perinatal Neonatal Nursing. 1997;11(1):77–84. - PubMed
    1. Brooten D, Gennaro S, Brown LP, Butts P, Gibbons AL, Bakewell-Sachs S, Kumar SP. Anxiety, depression, and hostility in mothers of preterm infants. Nursing Research. 1988;37(4):213–216. - PubMed

MeSH terms