Effect of Informational Support on Uncertainty of Fathers of Preterm Infants Hospitalized in NICU

Chen, Hangjian

Objective To explore the effect of informational support on uncertainty of fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in NICU.

Method 64 fathers of preterm infants hospitalized in the NICU of a teaching general hospital in the capital city of China were included. They were assigned to intervention group and control group. 32 fathers in the intervention group received informational support except the routine care, which including four methods( feedback of the nursing planning, informational support by We-chat, growing and developing dairies of preterm infants, meeting with parents). 32 fathers in the control group received the routine care, such as health education provided by the healthcare members of NICU at limited time, giving encouragement to fathers, helping fathers prepared to taking care of the preterm infants. The levels of uncertainty of both groups were rated with Parents’ Perception of Uncertainty Scale (PPUS) at four time points: the time of transferring into NICU, being discharged from NICU, 1week and 2 weeks after accepting informational support.

Results Both on 2 weeks after informational support and at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU, PPUS score of intervention group was significantly lower than control group（t=3.212,P=0.002; t=2.541,P=0.032）. But there were no change on 1week after informational support in both groups (t= —0.272, P=0.787).

Conclusion Informational support could relieve uncertainty in fathers of preterm infants on 2 weeks after informational support; informational could reduce the level of uncertainty of fathers at the time of preterm infants being discharged from NICU; there was no significant difference of the level of the uncertainty between the intervention group and the control group on 1 week. It's important for the healthcare providers to give support to the fathers of preterm infants during the period of hospitalization, and informational support is identified a effective way to release the feeling of negative emotions of preterm infants' fathers, such as uncertainty.