The impact of parent participation in a hospital-based kangaroo care program on time spent with their preterm infant in the neonatal intensive care unit
Abstract
Occupational therapists and other health professionals are faced with the challenge of helping parents cope with the birth of their preterm infant and fostering parent-infant bonding and attachment. Kangaroo care, or skin to skin contact, has the potential to minimize the delay in the parent-infant attachment process and facilitate more normal infant growth and development. The present study investigated the impact of parent participation in a hospital-based kangaroo care program on time spent with their preterm infant in the NICU. Fourteen parents with preterm infants in the NICU participated in the study. The results indicated that parents who participated in the kangaroo care program spent significantly more time with their infant than the parents who did not participate in the program (p $<$.022). In addition, parents in the kangaroo care group visited their infant more frequently than the control group (p $<$.037). However, the mean time with baby per day did not show a significant difference between the groups (p $<$.194). This information may assist occupational therapists in developing family-centered early intervention programs beginning in the NICU.
Subject Area
Rehabilitation|Therapy|Obstetrics|Gynecology
Recommended Citation
Schachter, Dana Robin, "The impact of parent participation in a hospital-based kangaroo care program on time spent with their preterm infant in the neonatal intensive care unit" (1997). ProQuest ETD Collection for FIU. AAI1387516.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/dissertations/AAI1387516