Sibling visits to a newborn intensive care unit: implications for siblings, parents, and infants

Family support and family-centered care in the neonatal intensive care unit: origins, advances, impact

Family-centered care (FCC) has been increasingly emphasized as an important and necessary element of neonatal intensive care. FCC is conceptualized as a philosophy with a set of guiding principles, as well as a cohort of programs, services, and practices that many hospitals have embraced. Several factors drive the pressing need for family-centered care and support of families of infants in NICUs, including the increase in the number of infants in NICUs; growth in diversity of the population and their concurrent needs; identification of parental and familial stress and lack of parenting confidence; and gaps in support for families, as identified by parents and NICU staff. We explore the origins of and advances in FCC in the NICU and identify various delivery methods and aspects of FCC and family support in the NICU. We examine the research and available evidence supporting FCC in the NICU and offer recommendations for increased dissemination and for future study.

Relato da história da inserção e evolução do atendimento psicológico a bebês e suas famílias em uma Unidade de Neonatologia

OBJETIVO: Este artigo apresenta o histórico de atuação de uma psicóloga na área de Neonatologia e sua evolução, desde as primeiras tentativas de mudar certas rotinas da unidade para que favorecessem a humanização do atendimento até a sua completa inserção na equipe multidisciplinar. São descritas em detalhes as atuações específicas junto aos bebês e suas famílias no contexto da internação hospitalar, com o intuito de auxiliar os profissionais de saúde que trabalham na área de implementação de programas afins. DESCRIÇÃO DO CASO: Relato da história de inserção e da evolução do trabalho de uma psicóloga na equipe de Neonatologia do Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (CAISM) da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), num período de dez anos (1993 a 2003). Descrevem-se as atividades específicas da Psicologia, o embasamento teórico dos programas desenvolvidos na unidade e os recursos técnicos utilizados no atendimento à clientela. COMENTÁRIOS: O saber específico do psicólogo pode ser estendido a toda a equipe, favorecendo ações de prevenção em Saúde Mental, principalmente a proteção da relação mãe-bebê. Além disso, pode ser disseminado, ganhar relevância e fazer parte do cotidiano de todas as unidades de terapia neonatais.

Child mental health consultation with families of medically compromised infants

Prematurity and birth defects present parents with a crisis for which they have usually had little preparation and no prior education. Both types of early medical complications may represent a state of suspended animation for most parents. Even large premature infants with good prognoses induce anxiety and symbolize potential death and disability, and children with birth defects may portend years of medical procedures and long-term disability. The fear of serious neurologic impairment or mental retardation presents parents with a long period of ambiguity and chronic anxiety. During this period, they must be helpless observers rather than active participants. Recent research has indicated that the active involvement of parents in the care of their premature infants can be helpful in alleviating the guilt and anxiety related to loss and impairment. Similarly, early physical contact between parents and their severely malformed infant is equally critical. Even if the ultimate complexities of early attachment have yet to be delineated fully, this is a worthwhile practice and useful approach in the nursery. Child mental health professionals have important roles to fulfill in helping staff members deal with increased parental participation and directly managing family members with intense distress related to their infants' fragility. The role of the mental health professional in such consultation may cover five related tasks: 1. Understanding the nature of the biologic issues facing the child and integrating that understanding with an evaluation of the child's neurobehavioral profile. 2. Understanding the family's relationship with the child and their overall level of functioning during an acutely stressful time. 3. Developing an appreciation of the place of the child in his or her family and how the parents understand the nature of the medical problems. 4. Forming a collaborative relationship with the pediatricians and other subspecialists who care for the child so that behavioral and psychological interventions are integrated with the child's biomedical care. 5. Fostering a brief, or sometimes long-term, therapeutic relationship with the family or facilitating the family's finding such a relationship with another clinician. There will never be enough child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychologists to treat all families of medically compromised infants. Knowledge of normative responses has advanced to the point at which basic skills can be used by and transmitted to others who can provide basic services. There is much to be learned about the short- and long-term sequelae of such stressful situations on individuals and family systems with preexisting psychopathology. For such families, child mental health professionals are uniquely suited to play a further role in research and treatment.

Psychosocial interventions for very low birthweight infants: their scope and efficacy

With the burgeoning of infant psychiatry, and the increasing survival and development of cohorts of very low birthweight (VLBW) infants, psychiatrists are becoming increasingly involved with other professionals in designing and implementing early intervention programs. Psychosocial interventions for VLBW infants generally report positive results regardless of the orientation of the practitioners, or the stated goal of the intervention: however, they have often taken place independently of longitudinal research, and sometimes without grounding in theories of infant and family development. This paper first reviews the current state of research and findings related to infant-focussed, parent-directed, and interactional programs. Second, it addresses a number of basic questions to be considered by psychiatrists involved in consulting to neonatal intensive care units, who have to appraise, design or implement intervention programs with this group. Throughout this discussion, it is proposed that the notion of infants at developmental risk needs to be supplemented by that of caregivers at risk, and that the professional boundaries which these distinctions represent need to be overcome.