Heidari Haydeh, Hasanpour Marzieh, Fooladi Marjan
Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Med Arh. 2012;66(1):35-40. doi: 10.5455/medarh.2012.66.35-40.
To explore experiences of Iranian parents with a hospitalized premature infant in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and examine socio-cultural factors associated with having a less than perfect infant.
Purposely selected 21 participants in this study were 6 fathers, 7 mothers, 5 nurses and 3 physicians specialized in neonatology. Semi-structured in-depth interviews using inductive approach and content analysis helped obtain and analyze data by open encoding for classification and theme abstraction.
Findings revealed that parents of hospitalized NICU infants in Iran experienced: job and income loss; shattered confidence in parental role; challenges to family dynamics; shame as a social stigma; loss of control; overwhelmed with uncertainties; and stress induced physical and emotional problems.
Unique and outstanding finding of this study was the social stigma of shame for parents of an NICU infant which directly explained the socio-cultural aspect of Iranian society where families place great importance on having a healthy and strong infant. Having a premature infant with anomalies is viewed as a family flaw. Physicians and nurses must focus more on communication with parents and fulfill an important role to educate, assure and comfort parents. Establishing support system for parents of NICU infants seem urgently needed to improve parent-infant bonding.
探讨伊朗父母在新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）照顾住院早产儿的经历，并研究与拥有不完美婴儿相关的社会文化因素。
本研究特意选取了21名参与者，其中包括6名父亲、7名母亲、5名护士和3名新生儿科医生。采用归纳法进行半结构化深度访谈，并通过内容分析，利用开放编码进行分类和主题提炼来获取和分析数据。
研究结果显示，伊朗NICU住院婴儿的父母经历了：工作和收入损失；对父母角色的信心受挫；家庭关系面临挑战；作为社会耻辱的羞耻感；失去控制感；被不确定性压得喘不过气；以及压力引发的身体和情绪问题。
本研究独特而突出的发现是，NICU婴儿的父母会感到羞耻，这是一种社会耻辱，直接解释了伊朗社会的社会文化层面，即家庭非常重视拥有健康强壮的婴儿。生下有异常的早产儿被视为家庭的缺陷。医生和护士必须更加注重与父母的沟通，并在教育、安抚和慰藉父母方面发挥重要作用。为NICU婴儿的父母建立支持系统似乎迫切需要，以改善亲子关系。
