Mental health of parents with infants in NICU receiving cooling therapy for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
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| Title: | Mental health of parents with infants in NICU receiving cooling therapy for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. |
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| Authors: | Ingram, Jenny (AUTHOR), Odd, David (AUTHOR), Beasant, Lucy (AUTHOR), Chakkarapani, Ela (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology. Jun2026, Vol. 44 Issue 3, p803-817. 15p. |
| Subjects: | Brain injury treatment, Competency assessment (Law), Health services accessibility, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Breastfeeding, Patient safety, Research funding, Psychology of fathers, T-test (Statistics), Neonatal intensive care units, Induced hypothermia, Interviewing, Questionnaires, Logistic regression analysis, Neonatal intensive care, Postpartum depression, Father-child relationship, Parent attitudes, Tertiary care, Discharge planning, Postnatal care, Chi-squared test, Mann Whitney U Test, Descriptive statistics, Disease prevalence, Hospital care of newborn infants, Mother-infant relationship, Thematic analysis, Longitudinal method, Sound recordings, Parent-infant relationships, Research, Research methodology, Psychology of parents, Psychological tests, Social support, Medical needs assessment, Needs assessment, Data analysis software, Comparative studies, Access to information, Children |
| Geographic Terms: | Wales, England |
| Abstract: | Background: Parents cuddling their babies during intensive care to promote parent-infant bonding is usual practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, babies undergoing cooling therapy and intensive care are not routinely offered parent-infant cuddles due to concerns of impacting the cooling process or intensive care. We developed the CoolCuddle intervention to enable parents to cuddle babies safely during cooling therapy. We investigated whether CoolCuddle impacted parent-infant bonding and parent's mental health. Methods: We conducted parental interviews and compared mental health and bonding measures in two cohorts of parents; one with access to CoolCuddle and the other where CoolCuddle was not available. Results: Ten tertiary NICUs in England and Wales from 2019 to 2023 were involved and 107 families. There were high levels of post-delivery depression amongst all parents. However, at discharge mothers in the CoolCuddle group had significantly less depression, lower EPDS scores, and higher MIBS scores (consistent with better mother-infant bonding) than those where CoolCuddle was not available. All measures appeared similar when re-measured at 8 weeks. Parents reported they were not ready to access psychological support or information whilst on NICU and stressed the need of mental health support following discharge, which was not offered or available. Conclusion: The CoolCuddle intervention was associated with a lower prevalence of depression and enhanced bonding scores for mothers at discharge compared to those who did not cuddle their babies. Parents highlighted increased levels of postnatal depression following the sudden and traumatic admission of their infant to NICU after birth asphyxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Background: Parents cuddling their babies during intensive care to promote parent-infant bonding is usual practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, babies undergoing cooling therapy and intensive care are not routinely offered parent-infant cuddles due to concerns of impacting the cooling process or intensive care. We developed the CoolCuddle intervention to enable parents to cuddle babies safely during cooling therapy. We investigated whether CoolCuddle impacted parent-infant bonding and parent's mental health. Methods: We conducted parental interviews and compared mental health and bonding measures in two cohorts of parents; one with access to CoolCuddle and the other where CoolCuddle was not available. Results: Ten tertiary NICUs in England and Wales from 2019 to 2023 were involved and 107 families. There were high levels of post-delivery depression amongst all parents. However, at discharge mothers in the CoolCuddle group had significantly less depression, lower EPDS scores, and higher MIBS scores (consistent with better mother-infant bonding) than those where CoolCuddle was not available. All measures appeared similar when re-measured at 8 weeks. Parents reported they were not ready to access psychological support or information whilst on NICU and stressed the need of mental health support following discharge, which was not offered or available. Conclusion: The CoolCuddle intervention was associated with a lower prevalence of depression and enhanced bonding scores for mothers at discharge compared to those who did not cuddle their babies. Parents highlighted increased levels of postnatal depression following the sudden and traumatic admission of their infant to NICU after birth asphyxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 02646838 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02646838.2024.2423178 |
