Bakgrund: Ett barn kan behöva vård på NVA av olika anledningar. För att familjen ska känna trygghet inför transitionen till hemmet krävs god planering och samverkan i hela vårdkedjan, från NVA till BHV. Det skapar förutsättning för att främja hälsa hos familjen. Föräldrar är med stöd av specialistsjuksköterskan viktiga för barnets utveckling och välbefinnande. Tidigare forskning visar att föräldrar som är delaktiga i sitt barns omvårdnad blir trygga att själva vårda barnet vilket stärker anknytningen och kan leda till en kortare vårdtid på NVA. Specialistsjuksköterskan är den som har kunskap om transitionens innebördoch kan anpassa stöd efter familjens behov för att bibehålla hälsa. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva föräldrars erfarenheter av transition från neonatal vårdavdelning till hemmet. Metod: En scoping review som analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Tre huvudteman framkom; Utskrivningens betydelse för framtiden, En förändrad livsvärld och Föräldrars behov. Det första temat består av tre subteman; Att känna glädje och oro inför hemgång som belyser föräldrars ambivalenta känslor kopplade till transition till hemmet och vikten av kompetent vårdpersonal för att föräldrar ska känna trygghet. Att inte känna sig inkluderad som pappa visar på pappors känslor av att inte bli inkluderade i sitt barns vård som gör att de upplever en svårighet att stötta sin partner och barn. Att förbättra transitionen till hemmet belyser föräldrars olika perspektiv av förberedelse inför transition. Det andra temat innehåller tre subteman; Att vara i sin hemmiljö beskriver föräldrars erfarenheter av att komma hem med sitt barn. Att få nya perspektiv på livet belyser föräldrars upplevelse av att bli föräldrar först när barnet kommer hem men också upplevelser av att kunna leva vidare efter transitionen. Att vilja skydda barnet innehåller upplevelser och erfarenheter av att skapa en vardag med barnet. I det tredje temat framkom två subteman; Att få stöd i sin föräldraroll beskriver olika former av stöd som föräldrar upplever i transitionen och Strategier för att hantera situationen tar upp metoder som föräldrar fann stöd genom. Slutsats: Det kan innebära en stor utmaning för föräldrar att få ett barn som behöver vård på NVA. Transitionen till hemmet behöver förberedelse. Föräldrar upplevde trygghet och kände mindre ambivalens när de fick stöd och vägledning från vårdpersonal. Föräldrar som gjorts delaktiga i sitt barns omvård på NVA kunde uppleva transitionen mer glädjefylld än de som inte fått den erfarenheten. Specialistsjuksköterskan har en viktig roll i att underlätta transitionen för föräldrar för att de ska känna sig trygga och säkra i att själva vårda barnet hemma. Ytterligare kompetens och stöd från specialistsjuksköterskan behövs för att transitionen ska upplevas trygg och säker för föräldrar. / Background: There can be various reasons for a child needing care in neonatal care unit. Forthe family to feel secure before the transition to home, good planning and cooperation is required throughout the continuity of patientcare, from neonatal care unit to children healthcare services. It creates conditions for promoting health in the family. Parents, with the support of the nurse specialist, are important for the child’s development and well-being. Previous research shows that parents who are involved in their child’s care become confident in caring for the child themselves, which strengthens the connection and can lead to a shorter period of care at the neonatal care unit. The nurse specialist is the one who has knowledge of the meaning of the transition and can adapt support to the family’s needs to maintain health. Aim: The aim was to describe parents’ experiences of the transition from neonatal care unit to home. Method: A scoping review that was analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results: Three main themes emerged in the result; The importance of the transition, A changed life world and Parents’needs. The first theme consists of three subthemes; Feeling joy and anxiety before going homewhich highlights parent’s ambivalent feelings connected to the transition home and the importance of competent healthcare professionals for parents to feel security. Not feeling included as a father shows fathers’ feelings of not being included in their child’s care, which makes them experience difficulty in supporting their partners and child. Improving the transition to the home highlights parents’ different perspectives of preparation for transition.The second theme contains three subthemes; Being in their home environment describes parents’ experiences of coming home with their child. Gaining new perspectives in lifehighlights parents’ experiences of becoming parents when the child comes home, but also experiences of being able to continue living after the transition. Wanting to protect the childincludes experiences and perspectives of creating a daily life with the child. In the third theme, two subthemes emerged; Getting support in the parental role describes different types of support that parents experience during the transition and Strategies to handle the situationexplain methods that parents found support through. Conclusion: It might imply a great challenge when parents get a child in need of care at neonatal care unit. The transition to home needs preparation. Parents experienced security and felt less ambivalence when they get through nursing staff got support and guidance. Parents who been involved in their child’s care in the neonatal care unit experienced the transition more joyous than parents who was not involved. The nurse specialist has an important role in facilitating the transition. To make the parents secure and safe taking care of their child at home. Further competence of parents’experiences requires in both neonatal care units and in child health services.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom kvalitativa intervjuer belysa hur föräldrar upplever en musikterapiinriktad samspels- och föräldrastödsgrupp på en neonatalmottagning. Forskningsfrågorna är: Vilka upplevelser beskriver deltagarna relaterat till samspels- och föräldrastödsgruppens verksamhet? Vilka uppfattningar har de om sessionernas innehåll? På vilka sätt använder deltagarna musik efter gruppens avslut? I bakgrunden ges en kort introduktion av musikterapi inom neonatalvård och tidigare forskning om musikterapi för föräldrar och deras barn presenteras. Metoden för denna studie är kvalitativ i form av kvalitativa intervjuer. Data har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. I resultatet presenteras de tre kategorier som uppkommit utifrån innehållet i intervjuerna: Upplevelser av sessionerna, Sessionernas innehåll samt Musik efter avslut. I diskussionen kopplas studieresultatet till tidigare forskning under rubrikerna Musikterapi i grupp för föräldrar och deras barn bidrar till välbefinnande, Musikterapi och föräldraförmåga samt Musikterapi och anknytning. I sista kapitlet sammanställs även föräldrarnas tankar om verksamhetens innehåll och vad som kan utvecklas framöver. Några utvalda frågor gällande studiens metod diskuteras, och avslutningsvis framhålls föreliggande studies betydelse och förslag på framtida forskning framförs. / This thesis aims to explore parental experiences of a music therapy intervention and parent support group within a neonatal clinic. The background provides a brief overview of neonatal music therapy and highlights previous studies in the field. The methodology is qualitative interviews and content analysis. The result outlines three categories: Experiences of the sessions, The content of the sessions, and Music after participation. In the last chapter, the study’s result is discussed based on the themes: Music therapy in group settings for parents and children contributes to well-being, Music therapy and parental competence, and Music therapy and attachment. The parents’ thoughts on the group sessions as well as the content of the sessions as potential areas for development of the music therapy intervention and parent support group within a neonatal clinic, are discussed. Some questions concerning the methodology in the present study are raised, and finally, the significance of the present study is emphasized and suggestions for future research are put forward.

När ett barn föds sjukt eller för tidigt och är i behov av neonatalvård är det en omtumlande och traumatisk tid för föräldrarna. För att underlätta för föräldrarna i deras svåra situation utgör sjuksköterskan ett stort stöd som kan främja välbefinnandet och hälsan. Syftet var att belysa föräldrarnas upplevelse av sjuksköterskans stöd på neonatalvårds avdelning. Litteraturöversikten utgår ifrån 12 olika artiklar varav 7 kvantitativa och 5 kvalitativa som har granskats och analyserat. Artiklarna är tagna från olika länder (Sverige, Australien, Nederländerna, USA, Sydkorea, England, Iran, Nya Zeeland och Spanien). Resultatet delades upp i 3 teman med 5 tillhörande subteman. Sammanfattningsvis uppgav föräldrar i samtliga artiklar att sjuksköterskornas stöd var en stor faktor för en bättre tid på neonatalvårdsavdelningen. Genom att känna sig sedda, delaktiga i sitt barns vård, vara väl informerade och väl bemötta av personalen. Majoriteten av föräldrarna uppgav att de var tillfreds med sjuksköterskans stöd, de uppskattade regelbunden information och närhet från sjuksköterskan. Brist på kommunikation och information från sjuksköterskan uppgav en del föräldrar som bristande i stödet. Det kan tyda på att det finns utvecklingspotential inom området på neonatalvården. / When a child is born sick or prematurely and requires neonatal care, it is a tumultuous and traumatic time for the parents. To ease the parents' difficult situation, the nurse provides significant support that can promote well-being and health. The purpose was to highlight the parents' experiences of the nurse's support in the neonatal care unit. The literature review is based on 12 different articles, of which 7 are quantitative and 5 are qualitative, that have been reviewed and analyzed. The articles are from various countries (Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, the USA, South Korea, England, Iran, New Zealand, and Spain). The results were divided into 3 themes with 5 corresponding subthemes. In summary, parents in all the articles reported that the nurses' support was a major factor for a better experience in the neonatal care unit. They felt seen, involved in their child's care, well-informed, and well-treated by the staff. The majority of parents were satisfied with the nurse's support, appreciating regular information and proximity from the nurse. Some parents reported a lack of communication and information from the nurse as a shortcoming in the support. This suggests that there is potential for improvement in the neonatal care area.

A quantitative descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe factors that contributed to high sickness and death rate of babies admitted in the Neonatal Unit at a tertiary institution in Limpopo Province. Data were collected from the patient’s records by administering an auditing tool. The tool included initial assessment on antenatal care, intra-partum and neonatal care. Analysis of data was performed by IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics 22 computer software version. Frequency tables and pie graphs were used to present the data. The findings revealed that 42% of the mothers whose babies were admitted in the Neonatal Unit were in their childbearing period, 71% of the mothers started antenatal care at the second trimester and 75% babies were admitted within the first six hours of life. Respiratory distress, 77% and prematurity, 43% were the common conditions for admission in the Neonatal Unit. Spontaneous preterm and immaturity were the common causes of death. Recommendations are that education and training on record keeping to be done on continuous basis, to conduct quality improvement programmes and implement maternal and neonatal guidelines in the clinical area throughout. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

A quantitative descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe factors that contributed to high sickness and death rate of babies admitted in the Neonatal Unit at a tertiary institution in Limpopo Province. Data were collected from the patient’s records by administering an auditing tool. The tool included initial assessment on antenatal care, intra-partum and neonatal care. Analysis of data was performed by IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics 22 computer software version. Frequency tables and pie graphs were used to present the data. The findings revealed that 42% of the mothers whose babies were admitted in the Neonatal Unit were in their childbearing period, 71% of the mothers started antenatal care at the second trimester and 75% babies were admitted within the first six hours of life. Respiratory distress, 77% and prematurity, 43% were the common conditions for admission in the Neonatal Unit. Spontaneous preterm and immaturity were the common causes of death. Recommendations are that education and training on record keeping to be done on continuous basis, to conduct quality improvement programmes and implement maternal and neonatal guidelines in the clinical area throughout. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

Sammanfattning: Syfte: Att belysa barnsjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att bedriva relationsbaserad vård för det förtidigt födda barnet och dess föräldrar. Bakgrund: Aktuell kunskapsgrund redovisar vikten av en familjecentrerad, relationsbaserad, neonatalvård i strävan efter tidig anknytning och självständigt föräldraskap. Bakgrunden redovisar även barnsjuksköterkans erfarenheter av den relationsbaserade vården. Design: En intervjustudie utifrån en kvalitativ ansats, med ett vårdarperspektiv som studiens teoretiska referensram. Metod: Data samlas in under 2015 genom öppna och semistrukturerade intervjuer med 10 barnsjuksköterskor verksamma vid neonatalavdelningar. Som stöd för intervjuerna används en intervjuguide, som testas i en pilotintervju. Materialet bearbetas i en kvalitativ innehållsanalys, och resulterar i tre kategorier, 10 subkategorier och ett tema. Resultat: Resultatet redovisas utifrån följande kategorier: att utveckla en vårdande relation, att använda relationsfrämjande arbetssätt på neonatal, att erfara svårigheter att bedriva relationsbaserad vård. Temat för resultatet är; en varsam och utmanande vägledning. Konklusion: Barnsjuksköterskornas erfarenheter av att bedriva relationsbaserad vård på en neonatalavdelning kan förstås som en varsam och samtidigt utmanande vägledning mot föräldraskap. Att bedriva relationsbaserad vård är en viktig del i att skapa föräldrar på neonatalavdelning och det finns all anledning att fortsätta att utveckla ett relationsbaserat vårdande på landets neonatalavdelningar. / Abstract: Aim: To explore pediatric nurses' experiences of practicing relationship-based care for premature infant and their parents. Background: A family centered, relationship-based, care is significant for pursuing early ties and independently parenting in the neonatal care unit. The backround also reports pediatric nurses’ experiences of relationship-based care. Design: An interview study with a qualitative approach, using caring perspective as a theoretical framework. Methods: The data is collected in 2015 through open and semi-structured interviews with 10 children nurses’ working in neonatal units. An interview guide, tested and validated in a pilot interview, is used as guidance for the interviews. The transcribed data is analysed using qualitative content analysis, and resulted in an overarching theme illustrating the latent content including three categories and 10 subcategories. Results: The findings portrayes in the following categories: development of a caring relationship, relationship promotion practices in the neonatal unit, the difficulties with practicing relationship-based care. The theme is a gentle and challenging guidence. Conclusion: Pediatric nurses' experiences in conducting relationship-based care in neonatal units can be understood as a gentle and challenging guidance on parenting. To engage in relationship-based care is an important part of creating parents in the neonatal care unit and there is every reason to continue to develop a relationship based care.

Introduction: The quality of neonatal care is mainly determined by long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. The neurodevelopment of preterm infants is related to postnatal head growth and depends on medical interventions such as nutritional support. Head circumference (HC) is currently used as a two-dimensional measure of head growth. Since head deformities are frequently found in preterm infants, HC may not always adequately reflect head growth. Laser aided head shape digitizers offer semiautomatic acquisition of HC and cranial volume (CrV) and could thus be useful in describing head size more precisely. Aims: 1) To evaluate reproducibility of a 3D digital capture system in newborns. 2) To compare manual and digital HC measurements in a neonatal cohort. 3) To determine correlation of HC and CrV and predictive value of HC. Methods: Within a twelve-month period data of head scans with a laser shape digitizer were analysed. Repeated measures were used for method evaluation. Manually and digitally acquired HC was compared. Regression analysis of HC and CrV was performed. Results: Interobserver reliability was excellent for HC (bias-0.005%, 95% Limits of Agreement (LoA) −0.39–0.39%) and CrV (bias1.5%, 95%LoA-0.8–3.6%). Method comparison data was acquired from 282 infants. It revealed interchangeability of the methods (bias-0.45%; 95%LoA-4.55–3.65%) and no significant systematic or proportional differences. HC and CrV correlated (r2 = 0.859, p<0.001), performance of HC predicting CrV was poor (RSD ±24 ml). Correlation was worse in infants with lower postmenstrual age (r2 = 0.745) compared to older infants (r2 = 0.843). Discussion: The current practice of measuring HC for describing head growth in preterm infants could be misleading since it does not represent a 3D approach. CrV can vary substantially in infants of equal HC. The 3D laser scanner represents a new and promising method to provide reproducible data of CrV and HC. Since it does not provide data on cerebral structures, additional imaging is required.

Introduction: The quality of neonatal care is mainly determined by long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. The neurodevelopment of preterm infants is related to postnatal head growth and depends on medical interventions such as nutritional support. Head circumference (HC) is currently used as a two-dimensional measure of head growth. Since head deformities are frequently found in preterm infants, HC may not always adequately reflect head growth. Laser aided head shape digitizers offer semiautomatic acquisition of HC and cranial volume (CrV) and could thus be useful in describing head size more precisely. Aims: 1) To evaluate reproducibility of a 3D digital capture system in newborns. 2) To compare manual and digital HC measurements in a neonatal cohort. 3) To determine correlation of HC and CrV and predictive value of HC. Methods: Within a twelve-month period data of head scans with a laser shape digitizer were analysed. Repeated measures were used for method evaluation. Manually and digitally acquired HC was compared. Regression analysis of HC and CrV was performed. Results: Interobserver reliability was excellent for HC (bias-0.005%, 95% Limits of Agreement (LoA) −0.39–0.39%) and CrV (bias1.5%, 95%LoA-0.8–3.6%). Method comparison data was acquired from 282 infants. It revealed interchangeability of the methods (bias-0.45%; 95%LoA-4.55–3.65%) and no significant systematic or proportional differences. HC and CrV correlated (r2 = 0.859, p<0.001), performance of HC predicting CrV was poor (RSD ±24 ml). Correlation was worse in infants with lower postmenstrual age (r2 = 0.745) compared to older infants (r2 = 0.843). Discussion: The current practice of measuring HC for describing head growth in preterm infants could be misleading since it does not represent a 3D approach. CrV can vary substantially in infants of equal HC. The 3D laser scanner represents a new and promising method to provide reproducible data of CrV and HC. Since it does not provide data on cerebral structures, additional imaging is required.

PhD (Health Sciences) / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / Preterm birth is an unresolved health issue; globally it is the largest contributor to mortality among children under 5 years of age. Worldwide, approximately 9.6% of all births are preterm which the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes as one of the top ten causes of neonatal deaths. The alarming rates of preterm births and deaths may be directly linked to the shortage of resources and an inadequate database of midwifery care guidelines for midwives in South Africa resulting in poor maternal care in public health. This study sought to develop midwifery practice guidelines to promote quality care of preterm babies in resource-limited obstetric units of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The convergent parallel mixed method was used, explorative, descriptive and contextual qualitative design were run concurrently with the descriptive quantitative approach. For the qualitative design, non-probability purposive sampling was used to select midwives and managers from Limpopo Province. In-depth one-to-one interviews were conducted with 11 midwives and 4 managers. Tesch’s eight steps of open-coding was used to analyze qualitative data. Trustworthiness was ensured through credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability. For the quantitative approach, 31 midwives and 24 managers completed the Likert scale questionnaire. The non-probability method was employed to select midwives and managers to make up a sample size of 55 participants. Reliability and validity of the instrument was ensured through extensive literature review and a pilot study. Data were analyzed with the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis yielded three themes as follows: the role of midwives in reduction of preterm births and deaths in obstetric units; challenges faced by midwives whilst executing their role during preconception, antenatal, labour and v puerperium period; support needed by midwives during provision of maternal and neonatal care to reduce preterm births and deaths. In the discussion of the findings, qualitative findings were supported by quantitative findings. The WHO model (PICOS & GRADES) was adapted in the development of the guidelines. The group then validated the guidelines using a closed-ended checklist to verify whether the guidelines were congruent with practice. The results were analyzed through simple descriptive statistics where the data were summarized using frequency / NRF

2017 became the beginning of the Childbirth Crisis of Sweden, as a result of underbudgeting and understaffing, creating an environment where patient safety and availability was questioned. Additionally, information and communication technology rapidly take a larger role in the field of healthcare, nourishing new solutions for old processes. This explorative research was conducted to answer how information and communication technologies, and communication techniques, are used and could be used to provide safe care for patients. This study was conducted with 10 participants working as medical staff at a Swedish neonatal care unit. The medical staff who participated consisted of registered nurses, certified pediatric nurses, pediatric nursing assistants, and one nursing assistant. The approach of this research was through system thinking in the tradition of soft systems thinking. The data collection was performed with a combination of semi-structured interviews and card sorting. The collected data were processed, organized, and interpreted with the three c’s of analysis and thematic analysis. The results of this study are complemented by rich pictures. The empirical findings of this study describe a neonatal care unit known at its hospital to be the one unit holding the largest number of different devices. The medical staff at the researched NCU are using information and communication technology in a combination together with specific communication techniques, to create an understanding of their patients’ conditions. The study connects a state of safe care to the training and knowledge of the information and communication technologies, and communication techniques used at the neonatal care unit. The combination of the information and communication technologies, and communication techniques used at the NCU are vital tools, conclusive to the medical staff when providing safe care for patients. This study provides an insight into one Swedish neonatal care unit, based on the interpretations of its medical staff.