Major
Nursing
Minor(s)
Thanatology; Psychology
Advisor
Kenny, Colleen
Advisor Department
Nursing, College of
Date
12-2020
Keywords
NICU; sibling support; disenfranchised grief; thanatology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Abstract
ANNIE ZITELLI (Nursing)
The NICU Experience: Supporting Families & Providing Resources
Sponsors: Colleen Kenny (Nursing)
This project aims to explore and understand the needs of family members who have an infant in the NICU to identify any gaps in resources and/or support hospitals provide to these families. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides optimal care for infants who are not fully developed or have serious health conditions. When an infant is brought to the NICU, parents and family members experience a flood of emotions. While families are trying to process the reality of having an infant in such a highly intensive technological environment, it is hard for them to comprehend all that is happening. NICU staff, especially nurses and social workers, work with families individually to guide them through the process. Through the exploration of literature and interviews with NICU nurses, social workers, and a sibling of an infant who was in the NICU, the researcher discovered that while there are often resources and support measures for parents, siblings of the infant in the NICU are often not included. Unfortunately, this can cause siblings to feel left out, confused, and scared, all of which lead to disenfranchised grief. Thus, the need for informational and supportive measures specific to siblings of infants in the NICU is critical. The researcher created a brochure tailored for parents on how to acknowledge the presence of siblings of an infant in the NICU and include them in, and educate them on, the experience. The brochure aims to assist parents on how to guide conversations with the siblings and provides resources to aid in the process. Hospitals are encouraged to use and provide this informational tool in an effort to decrease the occurrence of disenfranchised grief among siblings of infants in the NICU.