Family support system in newborn medicine: Does it work? follow-up study of infants at risk*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3476(86)80956-8Get rights and content

Acute illness in early childhood generates chronic anxiety in parents, which may manifest itself in part by inappropriate use of health care. To minimize this and the development of other psychosocial sequelae associated with neonatal illness, a family support system (FSS) was developed and implemented in a neonatal intensive care unit. The effectiveness of the FSS was assessed by the evaluation of emergency room and inpatient hospital service utilization in 80 patients born before, and 90 patients born after the institution of the program. At the outset, the groups had similar medical and social characteristics. There was no difference between the two groups in the utilization of emergency services in the first year after discharge. However, during the second year the control group used the emergency room twice as often as the study group did (P<0.025). During the first 2 years, half of the control group was readmitted, compared with less than a third of the study group (P<0.005). Overall, after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit the control group spent an average of 9 days per patient in hospital, compared with a mean of 3 days per patient in the study group (P<0.025). It appears, therefore, that the FSS may be an effective way to reduce some of the psychosocial sequelae of illness in newborn infants requiring intensive care

References (17)

  • HarperRG et al.

    Observations on unrestricted parental contact with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit

    J Pediatr

    (1976)
  • ElmerE et al.

    Developmental characteristics of abused children

    Pediatrics

    (1967)
  • EvarisS et al.

    A study of 45 children and their families

    J Am Acad Child Psychiatry

    (1972)
  • KleinM et al.

    Low birth weight and the battered child syndrome

    Am J Dis Child

    (1971)
  • GreenM et al.

    Reactions to the threatened loss of a child: a vulnerable child syndrome

    Pediatrics

    (1964)
  • SigalJJ et al.

    Later psychological consequences of near-fatal illness (nephrosis) in early childhood: preliminary findings

    Laval Med

    (1971)
  • SigalJJ et al.

    Later psychosocial sequelae of early childhood illness (severe croup)

    Am J Psychiatry

    (1973)
  • BenfieldGD et al.

    Grief responses of parents after referral of the critically ill newborn to a regional center

    N Engl J Med

    (1976)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (18)

  • Creating Paths: Living With a Very‐Low‐Birth‐Weight Infant

    1995, Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, &amp; Neonatal Nursing
  • Family support: Does it work?

    1986, The Journal of Pediatrics
  • Families and health care: Psychosocial practice

    2018, Families and Health Care: Psychosocial Practice
View all citing articles on Scopus
*

Supported in part by National Health Grant 6050-1096-20 from the Department of Health and Welfare Canada, and by a grant from the Council of Physicians and Dentists of Montreal Children's Hospital.

This is publication 86007 of the McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute.

View full text