Maternal and neonatal nurse perceived value of kangaroo mother care and maternal care partnership in the neonatal intensive care unit.
BACKGROUND
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) enhances infant and maternal well-being and requires maternal-care partnerships (MCP) for implementation.


OBJECTIVE
To examine maternal and neonatal nurse provider perspectives on the value of KMC and MCP.


METHODS
Prospective cohort design of neonatal nurses and mothers of preterm infants self-report anonymous questionnaire. Analyses of categorical independent variables and continuous variables were calculated.


RESULTS
In all, 82.3% of nurses (42) and 100% (143) of mothers participated in the survey. compared with 18% of nurses, 63% of mothers believed "KMC should be provided daily" and 90% of mothers compared with 40% of nurses strongly believed "mothers should be partners in care." In addition, 61% of nonwhite mothers identified that "KMC was not something they were told they could do for their infant" compared with 39% of white mothers. Nonwhite and foreign-born nurses were 2.8 and 3.1 times more likely to encourage MCP and KMC.


CONCLUSIONS
Mothers held strong positive perceptions of KMC and MCP value compared with nurses. Nonwhite mothers perceived they received less education and access to KMC. Barriers to KMC and MCP exist among nurses, though less in nonwhite, foreign-born, and/or nurses with their own children, identifying important provider educational opportunities to improve maternal KMC access in the NICU.
Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Karen D
KD
Hendricks-Muñoz
Yihong
Y
Li
Yang S
YS
Kim
Carol C
CC
Prendergast
Roslyn
R
Mayers
Moi
M
Louie
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D060127:Kangaroo-Mother Care Method / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education; D017283:Neonatal Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires