The effects of nursing interventions on mothers’ empowerment regarding improvement of the care of preterm infant in NICU: a Systematic review

Introduction: The birth of a preterm infant can be an overwhelming experience ofguilt, fear and helplessness for parents. According to remarkable effect of nursinginterventions on parents and infants in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), whichhas been pointed out in different studies, this study has been done to determine theeffects of nursing interventions on improving mothers’ ability in taking care of thepreterm infants.Methods: This study was based on a systematic review, and it has been done intargeted form, by focusing on the study questions. The articles were studied from 2003to 2013, by using four key words: Nursing interventions, mothers’ empowerment,preterm infants and NICU in Science Direct, Medline, PubMed, SID, Irandoc, and Iranmedex databases. Relevant articles were selected after several steps of evaluation andfull text of these articles were analyzed.Results: In this study, among 35280 articles, we finally selected nine. Results of fourmajor themes including; increase of parent-infant attachment and engagement,increase of parents’ confidence in taking care of preterm infants, decrease ofpsychological problems (depression, fear, anxiety, anger, etc.) and increase of preterminfants’ breastfeeding skills were extracted.Conclusion: This study showed that, nursing interventions are effective in bothparents and preterm infants for parents’ empowerment and partnership in taking careof preterm infant. Therefore, it is recommended to start education and care programsfor parents who have had a preterm infant throughout the admission phase of the infant,discharge and after that in the houses and educational-treatment centers.

Keywords:

Mothers’ empowerment , preterm infant , Nursing interventions , NICU