Date of Award
Fall 2019
Document Type
Capstone Project
Degree Name
Doctorate
Department
Occupational Therapy
Faculty Mentor
Trudy Mallinson, PhD
Abstract
Purpose: Despite occupational therapy’s established role in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in providing family centered intervention, mothers continue to report lack of readiness to discharge home and emotional distress while in the NICU and upon discharge home. Occupational therapists have the unique skillset to promote engagement in meaningful activities and facilitate overall health and wellness for mother’s during and after their NICU stay.
Method: A qualitative survey was distributed to a convenience sample of fifteen participants to identify emotional experiences in the NICU, how these experiences impact each mother fulfilling her role as a primary caretaker, and the perception of each mothers’ self-care needs being met during the NICU stay. A thematic analysis analytic approach was used to identify themes.
Results: Key themes of supports and barriers were identified, and a health and wellness tool was created to meet the self-care needs of future mothers of infants requiring a NICU stay. Two participants who completed the qualitative survey then evaluated the health and wellness tool through focused interviews and reported the tool is something they would have liked incorporated into their plan of care and that appears to meet their selfcare needs.
Conclusion: There is an opportunity for occupational therapists to incorporate this health and wellness self-care tool into future family centered practice in the NICU in order to address the emotional needs of the mother and assist them in fulfilling their role as a primary caretaker.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
MacCarthy, Genevieve, "Creation of A Health and Wellness and Self Care Tool for Mothers of Infants Requiring a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Stay" (2019). Doctor of Occupational Therapy Capstone Projects. Paper 8.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/smhs_crl_capstones/8
Comments
© 2019 Genevieve MacCarthy.