Parents’ Perceptions of Their Involvement in Their Babies’ Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study in Northern Ghana

Objective The study explored parental views on their involvement in caring for their children admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a hospital in Northern Ghana. Methods A qualitative descriptive exploratory design was used with 15 purposively sampled parents aged between 20 and 40 years. A semistructured interview guide was used to conduct the interviews with the participants. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using content analysis principles. Results Two themes were generated from the study. The first theme captured parents’ perception of their involvement in care, with the subthemes being parents’ understanding of involvement in the care of their children, parental involvement in the care of their children at the NICU, and their views on nurses’ attitude toward parental involvement in the care of their children. The second theme was the benefits of parental involvement in care at NICU, with the subthemes being parents’ benefits of their involvement in the care and parental views of nurses’ benefits of parental involvement in care at NICU. Conclusion Parents need to get involved in the care of their children admitted to the NICU. Nurses should teach parents some basic care activities during their children's admission. This will sharpen their skills to care for their children at home and increase their satisfaction with the services at the unit.