Kenny Bridget, McTaggart Sarah, O'Loughlin Rachel, Ranjithakumaran Branavie, Pelly Rachel, Hiscock Harriet
Health Services, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Safer Care Victoria, Victoria Department of Health and Human Services, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
J Child Health Care. 2024 Aug 8:13674935241271954. doi: 10.1177/13674935241271954.
Unsettled infant behaviours are highly prevalent in the postnatal period and constitute a significant proportion of visits to healthcare services. Unsettled infant behaviours can be highly distressing for parents and are identified as a significant risk factor for postnatal depression. Understanding parents' experiences is paramount to reducing the gap between consumer expectations and service delivery. This study employed a qualitative descriptive approach to explore parents' experiences seeking healthcare advice for their infant with unsettled behaviours. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 mothers. Inductive thematic analysis yielded two overarching themes: (1) 'the journey for answers', consisting of five sub-themes, and (2) 'parents' knowledge and behaviours', consisting of six sub-themes. Despite some positive interactions with healthcare services, mothers generally spoke negatively of their overall experience seeking answers and receiving care for their infant, and they felt the healthcare services they attended were not equipped to meet their needs. To address the gap between service delivery and consumer expectations, mothers relied on online communities for advice and emotional support. The findings of this study highlight several discrepancies between mothers' expectations and service delivery in the context of unsettled infant behaviours, and this paper makes recommendations to address identified shortcomings in approaches to care.
产后时期婴儿行为不安的情况非常普遍，在就诊于医疗服务机构的情况中占很大比例。婴儿行为不安会让父母极为苦恼，并被认定为产后抑郁的一个重要风险因素。了解父母的经历对于缩小消费者期望与服务提供之间的差距至关重要。本研究采用定性描述方法，以探究父母为行为不安的婴儿寻求医疗建议的经历。对20位母亲进行了半结构化访谈。归纳主题分析得出了两个总体主题：（1）“寻求答案之旅”，包括五个子主题；（2）“父母的知识与行为”，包括六个子主题。尽管与医疗服务机构有一些积极互动，但母亲们总体上对为婴儿寻求答案和接受护理的经历评价负面，并且觉得她们就诊的医疗服务机构无法满足她们的需求。为了弥合服务提供与消费者期望之间的差距，母亲们依靠在线社区获取建议和情感支持。本研究结果凸显了在婴儿行为不安的情况下母亲期望与服务提供之间的若干差异，本文针对已发现的护理方法中的不足提出了建议。
