2018 Volume 27 Pages 18-26
The present study aimed to clarify experienced nurses’ perception of discharge support for mothers of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients. Berelson B. content analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews conducted on experienced nurses (n=12; length of NICU nursing experience≥5 years) regarding their perception of discharge support for mothers. A total of 238 codes were extracted and organized into 49 subcategories, 15 categories, and 6 core categories. The 6 core categories comprised “building and deepening mother-infant and mother-nurse relationships”, “coherent supports the postpartum process”, “looking ahead to the infant’s care after hospital discharge”, “working as a team to coordinate for life after hospital discharge”, “learning about the mother and infant’s lives after hospital discharge and evaluating the discharge support in the NICU”, and “beginning discharge support from the pregnancy”. The findings suggest that experienced nurses bring their perceptions of discharge support into practice in accordance with the timing of the infant’s therapeutic course, based on a fundamental coherent awareness of discharge support throughout the postpartum process. It is also suggested that these perceptions were mutually reinforced to discharge support for mothers.
