A protocol for the assessment of the psychological impact of the Rise Alliance for Family Integrated Care (FICare) implementation in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

RODRÍGUEZ-REY, R.; VEGA-SANZ, M.; HALTY, A.; GISMERO, E.; DELFINO, G.; PULLICER, A.

Roma

Congreso; 5th Congress of joint European Neonatal Societies; 2023

Background: Family Integrated Care (FICare) is a novel model that integrates families into the care of their infants in the NICU by supporting, educating, and empowering parents. It has proved to be effective in reducing parental stress and anxiety. The psychological impact of FICare on NICU staff has not been explored. We describe a new protocol to assess the psychological impact of the FICare model on parents and staff in an ongoing international study that includes the collaboration of NICUs in Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, and Zambia.Methods: After conducting a literature review on studies exploring the psychosocial outcomes derived from FICare, it seemed necessary to develop a comprehensive psychological assessment protocol that included not only parental anxiety and stress, but also other relevant psychological variables such as perinatal depression, parental self-efficacy, or postpartum bonding. Also, it was important to assess the psychological impact on the NICU healthcare workers, which remained unexplored. To develop such protocols, a group of psychologists reviewed the literature, agreed on the variables that had to be included, and selected the questionnaires that should fulfill the following requirements: have adequate psychometric properties, be brief, and be adapted to all (or most of) the countries included in the study.Results: The protocol developed for parents is longitudinal in nature, including three time points. At T1 (36h within the infant’s NICU admission) parents are asked to complete questionnaires to assess parental stress, anxiety, depression, parenting self-efficacy, bonding, resilience, and perceived social support. At T2 (at the child’s discharge from the NICU) and T3 (6 months of the infant’s corrected age) stress, anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, bonding, and social support were measured again, but we also included perception of participation in decision-making in the NICU, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and posttraumatic growth. At the beginning of the FICare implementation in each NICU, the staff answered questionnaires to measure anxiety, depression, perception of parental participation, burnout, PTSS, work engagement, and perception of shared decision-making.Conclusion: Data collection for this study is currently ongoing. We expect that the results expand our knowledge of the psychological impact of the FICare model.