Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan MY(1), Au LC(1), FU YM(1), Lee B(1), Cheung SC(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Parent-infant bonding and attachment could be hindered by early separation of infants with their parents during hospitalization in NICU. Preterm infants in NICU were exposed to multiple stressors with daily treatments incurring negative effects on brain and neurobehavioral development. Comforting touch was a gentle and repetitive stroking on infant's skin manually to stimulate infant's tactile sense. It benefited on improving digestion, weight gain and sleep, enhancing immune system, promoting neurobehavioral development, finally shortening hospitalization of infants. It could promote infant-parent bonding and attachment, increased self-confidence in caring their preterm infants.
Objectives :
To implement comforting touch interventions to promote parental bonding of preterm infants in NICU and to evaluate the effectiveness of comforting touch in improving parental bonding of preterm infants.
Methodology :
A pilot program on comforting touch was conducted in NICU, PMH from October 2019 to December 2019. Parents of eligible infants (excluded from congenital abnormalities, unstable vital signs, requiring invasive ventilator support, parental drug abuse) were invited to join the program for consecutive five days on voluntary basis with education information and photo guide. Parent education included touching skill learning, demonstration by trained nurses, learning how to observe infant's cues. It was performed at least 1 hour pre- and post-feed with nursing support to parents. Vital signs and behavioral state of their infants were recorded before, during and after comforting touch. Parental bonding was measured by Maternal Infant Responsiveness Instrument (MIRI) for parents’ feelings about their infants and appraisal of infant’s responses before and after comforting touch, and parents’ feedback.
Result & Outcome :
Total 10 parents were willing to participate in the program. Their preterm infants with birth gestation weeks from 26 5/7 weeks to 35 5/7 weeks, birth weight from 0.83kg to 1.76kg. For physical parameters, 40% babies had reduced heart rate and respiration rate within normal range after comforting touch while 60% babies did not have significant differences before and after it. For oxygen saturation (SpO2), no desaturation was detected during and after it for all infants even though 30% infants required respiratory support. For behavioral status, 100% infants were awake or crying at the beginning but fell asleep after it. Parent responding rates of pre- and post-questionnaire were 100%. There was 90% of parents with positive feedback and increase in total MIRI marks around 11% in post-questionnaires. From parents’ feedback, all parents had high confidence level towards their interaction with their infants, improved sense of achievement, increased self-confidence in infant care, observed infants with longer sleep time and improved physical conditions.
