Supporting Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents Through Social Media

Social Media as a Source of Medical Information for Parents of Premature Infants: A Content Analysis of Prematurity-Related Facebook Groups

OBJECTIVE

Parents are increasingly turning to social media for medical recommendations. Our objective was to systematically examine posts on Facebook for parents of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to analyze how advice on medical topics was requested and given, and whether this advice was potentially medically inappropriate.

STUDY DESIGN

One hundred Facebook groups were screened for study eligibility. In each group, up to 400 posts on medical topics were evaluated. The first 10 comments of each post were classified based on content and presence of medical advice. Appropriateness of advice was evaluated by a neonatologist.

RESULTS

Of 28 groups meeting study criteria, 10 permitted access for data collection. We identified 729 posts requesting medical advice of which 29% referenced the NICU period. Posts on diagnosis and development (30 and 32% of posts, respectively) were the most common topics, and most likely to receive advice (78 and 76% of posts on these topics, respectively). We identified 238 comments containing potentially inappropriate medical advice and 30 comments recommending going against medical advice.

CONCLUSION

Parents are utilizing Facebook as a source of support and medical information. Parents are most likely to give development-related advice from their own parenting experiences. The high percentage of posts requesting advice about diagnosis and development in the post-NICU stage suggests parents seek increased anticipatory guidance.

KEY POINTS

· Parents of premature infants use Facebook to obtain medical advice.. · Advice was at times potentially medically inappropriate.. · Much advice focused on the post-NICU period..

Parental experience of transition from a pediatric intensive care unit to a general ward: A Qualitative Study

AIM

To explore parental experience in transitioning from a pediatric intensive care unit to a general ward and to investigate parental involvement in caring for their critical illness children.

BACKGROUND

Parents have a major responsibility in caring for seriously ill children, but nursing staff fail to meet the expectations of parents regarding nursing care. Few studies have investigated the challenges and needs of Chinese parents during the transition from pediatric intensive care unit to general ward.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 parents of children with critical illness in a pediatric hospital in Shanghai, mainland China to explore their views. Transcripts were entered into NVivo. Framework analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.

RESULTS

Four themes were identified by data analysis: changes in the child during post pediatric intensive care unit periods; experiencing a wide range of emotions; factors involved in the transition; and suggestions for improving transitional care.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to the unmet needs of parents, a more flexible visiting policy and social media support were highly desirable. Getting accurate information, establishing family integrated care, and strengthening ward-based critical support services were also listed as important needs of parents caring for critically ill children.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

A profound understanding of parental experiences during the transitional period can help nursing staff to assess the effects on children and their families, improve ward-based intensive care, support parental participation, and improve visitation policies. Based on these findings, nurse managers can develop reasonable intervention programs in order to improve nursing quality and patient outcomes.

Parents' experiences during and after their child's stay in the paediatric intensive care unit - A qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND

Having a child admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is often an emotional and stressful experience for parents.

AIM

The aim of the study was to explore parents' experiences during and after their child's hospitalization in the PICU and to investigate whether parents have a need for post-PICU follow-up.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The research design was a qualitative study inspired by Ricoeur's phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The context of the study was a six-bed PICU in a university hospital in Denmark. In 2017, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four couples and three mothers six to 14 weeks after their child had been discharged from the PICU. The data were analysed and interpreted through Ricoeur's three analytical levels and presented in themes and subthemes.

FINDINGS

Three themes were identified in the analytical process: "The challenging PICU stay", "The value of a network" and "The uncertain post-PICU trajectory".

CONCLUSION

Information, dialogue and interaction with familiar health professionals, the diary written by PICU nurses, the parents' personal network and social media supported the parents during and after the PICU stay. The parents expressed that post-PICU follow-up was not the most essential but that follow-up initiatives may be arranged individually.

Information and Communications Technology and Education Customized for Fathers of Preterm Infants

PURPOSE

Although various educational technology interventions have been introduced to support parents of preterm infants, the interventions tend to focus on mothers over fathers. This study aims to advance understanding of the concerns and needs of fathers and seek opportunities of information technology to support them.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE

A convenience sampling method recruited 18 parents (i.e., ten mothers and eight fathers of preterm infants) for interviews. The interview transcripts were analyzed by the inductive content analysis method.

MAIN OUTCOME VARIABLE

The analysis identified two main themes (i.e., customized education, learning styles and tools preferred by fathers) and five subthemes (i.e., infant care, self-care, self-regulated online learning, adaptive user interfaces of online education modules, and hands-on learning with multimedia).

RESULTS

The interviewed parents emphasized the importance of education customized for the fathers of preterm infants, and argued that an e-learning system has the potential to fulfill the fathers' educational needs.

Learning to parent from Google? Evaluation of available online health evidence for parents of preterm infants requiring neonatal intensive care

The study aim was to identify and evaluate the reliability and quality of online resources for parents of preterm infants seeking health information about their infant using the DISCERN tool and Health on Net code. An Internet search ( www.google.com ) was used to identify websites for parents of preterm infants on their infants' health and health issues. For each search, the top 100 "hits" were downloaded, yielding 1200 websites. After reviewing websites for exclusion criteria and duplicates, 197 websites remained and were analyzed. According to the DISCERN tool, the websites had a moderate reliability score (mean = 29.88, standard deviation = 4.88, range: 18-40), moderate treatment score (mean = 24.15, standard deviation = 5.79, range: 10-35), and moderate overall quality score (mean = 3.41, standard deviation = 0.89, range: 1-5). Only 24 (12.2%) websites had current Health on Net code approval and no other websites met full eligibility for certification. Overall, the reliability and quality of information available online to parents of preterm infants is lacking.

Text Messaging in the Patient-Centered Medical Home to Improve Glucose Control and Retinopathy Screening

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging program (TMP) to improve glucose control, retinopathy screening (RS) rates, and self-care behaviors in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. Methods: A single-group design with a quasi-systematic random sample (n=20) received educational/exhortational text messages on their cellular phones for 3 months. Subjects, 12 of whom identified as a minority ethnicity, were mostly male, aged 27-73 years. Results: Glucose control and RS rates improved significantly. Subjects (>70%) reported changes in self-care behaviors. Conclusion: Leveraging ubiquitous technology, a TMP for patients with limited access to healthcare education, holds promise.