Kangaroo Care: Creating a Video Teaching Tool for Parents and Neonatal Nurses

Kangaroo Care (KC) is the process of holding an infant skin-to-skin, a timeless technique with scientific benefits revealed in the 1970’s (Johnson, 2013). With a thorough literature review, many benefits of KC were discovered for infants, parents, and nurses. Many professional health care organizations support the implementation of KC early in the infant’s life, as neonates are better regulated by their mothers as compared to hospital incubators (Mori, Khanna, Pledge & Nakayama, 2010). A survey of nurses (n=70) was conducted at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to identify a possible need for increased KC education, evaluate the nurses’ perceptions of KC, and establish a preference for a teaching tool. The majority of those surveyed (64%) agreed a video would be the most effective medium to educate both parents and nurses on KC. In addition, research has shown that videos serve as an effective tool to educate patients in a cost-effective manner (Shah, Swanson, Nobay, Peterson, Caprio & Karuza, 2012). A DVD explaining the benefits of KC was created, and the proper transfer technique for KC was demonstrated. This teaching tool is intended to be used in the NCCC to educate parents and nurses on the benefits of KC for infants, and to increase implementation of KC.