RESEARCH ARTICLE
Kangaroo Care in a Neonatal Context: Parents’ Experiences of Information and Communication of Nurse-Parents
Desirée Lemmen1, Petra Fristedt2 , Anita Lundqvist* , 3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 41
Last Page: 48
Publisher ID: TONURSJ-7-41
DOI: 10.2174/1874434601307010041
Article History:
Received Date: 30/10/2012Revision Received Date: 20/12/2012
Acceptance Date: 18/1/2013
Electronic publication date: 16/5/2013
Collection year: 2013

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objective:
Kangaroo Care (KC) is an evidence-based nursing practice with many benefits for infants and parents. The purpose of this study was to describe parents’ experience of information and communication mediated by staff nurses before and during KC at neonatal wards.
Methodology and Participants:
A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was performed. The sample consisted of 20 parents.
Results:
The results show that the information and communication were experienced as both optimal and suboptimal including following categories: initially conflicting emotions in relation to KC, participation and confidence in KC is evolving, strengthening preparation and context is decisive as well as parental sense and caution. The overall theme was that good preparation will contribute to a positive experience of KC.
Conclusion:
The conclusion is that most of the parents had positive experiences of KC. The information and communication from the staff nurses encouraged and motivated the parents to practice KC, in a sense that it was a natural way to get to know the infant, when the staff nurses were well versed in the method and coherent and supportive. Conflicting emotions emerged when staff nurses practised KC as a routine without deeper knowledge and skills of the method and its advantages as well as without sensitivity to parents’ vulnerable situation.