Abstract :
Keywords Emotional closeness; Parents; Family-centered care; Involvement in infant care; Skin-to-skin contact; Neonatal intensive care Highlights * Parent/infant separation at the NICU can lead to adverse effects for both parents and the infant. * Emotional closeness between parents and infants appears to be an important aspect of the developing parent/infant relationship. * Increased presence, involvement in care, holding, and skin-to-skin contact were associated with greater parental emotional closeness. Abstract Background There is a dearth of knowledge regarding the specific factors associated with emotional closeness in parents with an infant in the NICU. Aim To determine if parental presence, involvement in infant care, holding, skin-to-skin contact (SSC), perceived family-centered care, depression symptoms, and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with the emotional closeness of parents with an infant hospitalized at the NICU. Study design This longitudinal descriptive study was conducted in two Canadian level-three NICUs. A sociodemographic questionnaire was completed by parents at enrolment. A closeness diary was completed by each parent for 14 days to measure parental presence, involvement in infant care, holding, SSC, and emotional closeness. One question from the DigiFCC tool was sent daily via text message to the parents' cellphones to measure their perception of the quality of family-centered care they experienced. Parent depression symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at discharge. Results A total of 60 families were involved in the study. Increased parental presence (B = 0.21, p Conclusion Several factors may enhance parents' emotional closeness when their infant is in the NICU. Care providers need to be aware and adapt their clinical practices accordingly to promote emotional closeness by encouraging parental presence, involvement in infant care, holding, and skin-to-skin contact. Author Affiliation: (a) Nursing department, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 5 St-Joseph, St-Jérôme, Québec J7Z 0B7, Canada (b) School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, 5869 University Avenue PO BOX 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada (c) Division of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada (d) Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre, 5980 University Ave #5850, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 6R8, Canada (e) Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, 680 Sherbrooke St W, Bureau 1800, Montreal, Québec H3A 2M7, Canada (f) Jewish General Hospital Centre for Nursing Research & Lady Davis Institute, 3755 Côte-Sainte-Catherine Street, Montréal, Québec H3T 1E2, Canada (g) Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014, Finland * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 13 July 2022; Revised 30 August 2022; Accepted 30 August 2022 Byline: Valérie Lebel [valerie.lebel@uqo.ca] (a,*), Marsha Campbell-Yeo (b,c,d), Nancy Feeley (e,f), Anna Axelin (g)