Investigating the Strategic Elements of Family-Centered Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: The family is an integral part of the health care team. Focusing on family-centered care in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) involves using strategies to support families by supporting parental involvement in NICUs. Accordingly, the present study aimed to examine the strategic elements of family-centered care in NICUs. Methods: The present study was conducted using conventional qualitative content analysis based on Graneheim and Lundman’s approach and purposive sampling. This study was conducted in NICUs of Isfahan hospitals in 2018. The data were collected through unstructured face-to-face interviews with 15 participants including parents and NICU staff.  The collected data were encoded and analyzed through Microsoft Word Office and OneNote 2010. Results: The analysis of the data revealed 3 main themes and 7 subthemes related to the strategic elements of family-centered care. The extracted themes (and subthemes) were: (1) Family and care (family involvement in the care process, the interaction between the medical staff and the family), (2) Parental characteristics in care (the mother as the core element of care, the father’s role in care), (3) Family needs (the need of the family for information, the importance of family preparation, the family’s need for spiritual support). Conclusion: The present study revealed the key elements of the structure of family-centered care from the perspective of families and medical staff. The findings of this study also highlighted the role of the family in caring for patients and meeting their needs. Accordingly, measures should be taken to improve the quality of family-centered care by taking into account the strengths of this strategy.