Parents’ experiences of transitioning to home with a very-low-birthweight infant: a meta-ethnographyShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Journal of Neonatal Nursing, ISSN 1355-1841, E-ISSN 1878-089X, Vol. 29, no 3, p. 444-452Article, review/survey (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Medical-technological advances and neurodevelopmental care have improved the survival of extremely- and very-low-birthweight infants born before 32 weeks' gestation. After months in neonatal care, the infants are discharged, and parents exited but full of anxiety. This review is designed as a meta-ethnography, addressing parents' discharge experiences to comprehend the synthesised research, which includes 12 eligible studies. From the analysis, we constructed three themes: ‘approaching discharge with both uncertainty and confidence’; ‘discharge as a longed-for though disordering turning point’; and ‘facing joys, worries and multiple challenges when at home’. The overarching interpretation was ‘discharge as double-edged sword’. We conclude that bringing home very-low-birthweight infants is a joyful event, yet parents also experience discharge as never-endingly worrying, as a time filled with challenges to which parents must adapt and as necessitating continuous support from knowledgeable providers.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023. Vol. 29, no 3, p. 444-452
Keywords [en]
Discharge-to-home, Extremely-low-birthweight, Meta-ethnography, Neonatal care, parents, Transition, Very-low-birthweight
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-203115DOI: 10.1016/j.jnn.2022.11.012Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85145226805OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-203115DiVA, id: diva2:1727498
2023-01-162023-01-162023-07-13Bibliographically approved