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Lived Experience of Caregivers of Family-Centered Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: “Evocation of Being at Home”
Shirazi, Zahra Hadian; Sharif, Farkhondeh; Rakhshan, Mahnaz; Pishva, Narjes & Jahanpour, Faezeh
Abstract
Background: In recent decades, family-centered care (FCC) has come to be known, accepted, and reported as the best care strategy
for admitted children and their families. However, in spite of the increasing application of this approach, the experiences of the
caregivers have not yet been studied.
Objectives: The present study aimed at the description and interpretation of the FCC experience in two neonatal intensive care
units (NICU) at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: This study was conducted through the hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted
with 17 professional and familial caregivers, and their interactions were observed in three work shifts. The interviews were
audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. After observations, field notes were also written. Finally, the data were analyzed through van
Manen’s methodology.
Results: One of the essential themes that emerged in this study was the “evocation of being at home” among familial and even professional
caregivers. This theme had three subthemes: i.e., “meta-family interaction,” “comprehensive support,” and “reconstruction
of a normal family.” Accordingly, FCC eliminated borders between professional and non-professional caregivers and built close
relationships among them in the NICU. It also provided for the needs of neonates, their families, and even professional caregivers
through perceived and received support.
Conclusions: Parents of the neonates admitted to the NICU experience hard moments. They not only play the role of primary caregivers,
but they also receive the care. Focusing on the different meanings of this care from the caregivers’ points of view and having
managers provide certain requirements can guarantee the establishment of comprehensive care for clients and proper support for
the staff in this unit.
Keywords
Family-Centered Care; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; Hermeneutic Phenomenology
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