Abstract

Session presented on Saturday, July 23, 2016 and Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Objective: To explore the effect of informational support on uncertainty of fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in NICU.

Method: 64 fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU of a teaching general hospital in the capital city of China were included. They were assigned to intervention group and control group. 32 fathers in the intervention group received informational support except the routine care, which including four methods (feedback of the nursing planning, informational support by We-chat, growing and developing dairies of preterm infants, meeting with parents). 32 fathers in the control group received the routine care, such as health education provided by the healthcare members of NICU at limited time, giving encouragement to fathers, helping fathers prepared to taking care of the preterm infants. The levels of uncertainty of both groups were rated with Parents' Perception of Uncertainty Scale (PPUS) at four time points: the time of transferring into NICU, being discharged from NICU, 1 week and 2 weeks after accepting informational support.

Results: Both on 2 weeks after informational support and at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU, PPUS score of intervention group was significantly lower than control group (t=3.212,P=0.002; t=2.541,P=0.032). But there were no change on 1 week after informational support in both groups (t= ?0.272, P=0.787).

Conclusion: Informational support could relieve uncertainty in fathers of preterm infants on 2 weeks after informational support; informational could reduce the level of uncertainty of fathers at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU; there was no significant difference of the level of the uncertainty between the intervention group and the control group on 1 week. It's important for the healthcare providers to give support to the fathers of preterm infants during the period of hospitalization, and informational support is identified a effective way to release the feeling of negative emotions of preterm infants' fathers, such as uncertainty.

Author Details

Hangjian Chen, RN; Jingli Chen, RN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Poster

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Informational Support, Fathers of Preterm Infants, Uncertainty

Conference Name

27th International Nursing Research Congress

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Cape Town, South Africa

Conference Year

2016

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Effect of informational support on uncertainty of fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in NICU

Cape Town, South Africa

Session presented on Saturday, July 23, 2016 and Sunday, July 24, 2016:

Objective: To explore the effect of informational support on uncertainty of fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in NICU.

Method: 64 fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU of a teaching general hospital in the capital city of China were included. They were assigned to intervention group and control group. 32 fathers in the intervention group received informational support except the routine care, which including four methods (feedback of the nursing planning, informational support by We-chat, growing and developing dairies of preterm infants, meeting with parents). 32 fathers in the control group received the routine care, such as health education provided by the healthcare members of NICU at limited time, giving encouragement to fathers, helping fathers prepared to taking care of the preterm infants. The levels of uncertainty of both groups were rated with Parents' Perception of Uncertainty Scale (PPUS) at four time points: the time of transferring into NICU, being discharged from NICU, 1 week and 2 weeks after accepting informational support.

Results: Both on 2 weeks after informational support and at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU, PPUS score of intervention group was significantly lower than control group (t=3.212,P=0.002; t=2.541,P=0.032). But there were no change on 1 week after informational support in both groups (t= ?0.272, P=0.787).

Conclusion: Informational support could relieve uncertainty in fathers of preterm infants on 2 weeks after informational support; informational could reduce the level of uncertainty of fathers at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU; there was no significant difference of the level of the uncertainty between the intervention group and the control group on 1 week. It's important for the healthcare providers to give support to the fathers of preterm infants during the period of hospitalization, and informational support is identified a effective way to release the feeling of negative emotions of preterm infants' fathers, such as uncertainty.