The effect of family integrated care on preparing parents with premature infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit for discharge

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: It is an important factor for the health of the baby that parents who have a premature baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are ready for home care after discharge. The aim of this study was to develop the Mother/Father with Premature Baby Readiness for Discharge and Home Care Scale separately for the parents, to test the reliability and validity, and to determine the effect of the Family Integrated Care (FICare) model on the parents' readiness for discharge and home care of the baby. has been made. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The first stage of the study was cross-sectional and methodological, and the second stage was a randomized controlled experimental study. The sample group of the study consisted of 136 mothers and 133 fathers in the first stage, and a total of 68 parents, 34 of whom had premature babies in the NICU, and 34 of whom were in the control group. In the second stage of the study, FICare model was applied to the parents in the intervention group and standard care was applied to the parents in the control group. RESULTS: In the scale development phase; As a result of the factor analysis applied, the mother form was reduced to 22 items and the father form to 20 items from the scales with 25 items. Confirmatory factor analysis fit indices were calculated as χ²/df: 1.666, SRMR: 0.0598 for mothers, χ²/df: 2.110, SRMR: 0.0692 for fathers. Cronbach's Alpha values are .911 for mothers and .948 for fathers. In the second stage of the study, the mean score of readiness for discharge and home care of the mothers and fathers in the intervention group was higher than the control group, and there was a significant difference (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: It has been seen that the scales developed for mothers and fathers are valid and reliable measurement tools. It has been determined that the application of the Family Integrated Care model is quite effective on the readiness of the parents for discharge and home care. Keywords: Family Integrated Care, Mother and Father, Readiness, Prematurity, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Discharge