Abstract
Hospitalized infants are frequently exposed to painful procedures with suboptimal pain care, which can negatively impact infants’ growth and development. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding for pain relief, highlighting the importance of parental involvement in pain care in intensive care. However, parental involvement for pain care is not yet standard practice. As nurses play a key role in neonatal and pain care, the goal of this study is to understand nurses’ needs to enable parental involvement in pain care.
Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, survey-designed needs assessment study. Nurses residing in Canada and working for at least 12 months in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) were eligible. The survey was developed based on available literature [1,2,3], and revised by two experienced nurse researchers and a parent partner. A REDCap survey was created and non-probability sampling method was utilized for recruitment, with survey distribution through social media channels and mailing lists. Proactive strategies (CAPTCHA usage and data verification) were implemented to ensure data integrity [4]. Data was described and summarized descriptively.
Results: From 74 survey entries, 19 were excluded due to lack of or incomplete responses or verification inconsistency. From the 55 surveys analyzed, the majority were from Ontario (31/56%) and self-identified as Caucasian (34/63%); mean age was 36.71 (±7.44) years old. The average length of experience in neonatal care was 10.83 (±7.43) years. The majority of participants indicated that their units have locally developed pain care guidelines (40/73%), and that parental involvement is part of those (42/76%). Involving parents in pain care is sometimes perceived as an important part of their unit’s culture and practice (34/63%), while it is often an important part of their role (37/68%). Participants perceive that educating parents in infant’s pain care is sometimes an important part of their unit’s culture and practice (28/52%) and that sometimes nurses have resources and knowledge to prepare and teach parents (27/49%).
Conclusion: Although protocols including parental involvement in pain care exist, nurses require resources and support to effectively educate and prepare parents for this role. Gaining deeper insight into nurses’ perspectives will help identify strategies to standardize and strengthen parental involvement in NICU pain care.
Notes
References:
[1] McNair, C., et al. (2024). Parents' experiences with infant pain management in the NICU. JOGNN, S0884–1.
[2] Ullsten, A., et al. (2024). Parents in neonatal pain management-an international survey of parent-delivered interventions and parental pain assessment. Children, 9;11(9):1105.
[3] Robinson, C. H., & Damschroder, L. J. (2023). A pragmatic context assessment tool (pCAT): using a Think Aloud method to develop an assessment of contextual barriers to change. Implementation Science Communications, 4(1),3.
[4] Forgeron, P. (2025). Fraudulent participation in research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, in press.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Cross-Sectional
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Acute Care, Workforce, Advancing Clinical Practice, Parent Attitudes, Pain, Neonatal Intensive Care, Neonatal Nursing, Neonatal Intensive Care Units, Pain Management
Recommended Citation
Sobers, Danielle; McNair, Carol; Campbell-Yeo, Marsha; Bacchini, Fabiana; and Bueno, Mariana, "Nurses' Perspectives on Parental Involvement in Infant's Pain Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 65.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/posters_2026/65
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-08-06
Nurses' Perspectives on Parental Involvement in Infant's Pain Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hospitalized infants are frequently exposed to painful procedures with suboptimal pain care, which can negatively impact infants’ growth and development. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding for pain relief, highlighting the importance of parental involvement in pain care in intensive care. However, parental involvement for pain care is not yet standard practice. As nurses play a key role in neonatal and pain care, the goal of this study is to understand nurses’ needs to enable parental involvement in pain care.
Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, survey-designed needs assessment study. Nurses residing in Canada and working for at least 12 months in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) were eligible. The survey was developed based on available literature [1,2,3], and revised by two experienced nurse researchers and a parent partner. A REDCap survey was created and non-probability sampling method was utilized for recruitment, with survey distribution through social media channels and mailing lists. Proactive strategies (CAPTCHA usage and data verification) were implemented to ensure data integrity [4]. Data was described and summarized descriptively.
Results: From 74 survey entries, 19 were excluded due to lack of or incomplete responses or verification inconsistency. From the 55 surveys analyzed, the majority were from Ontario (31/56%) and self-identified as Caucasian (34/63%); mean age was 36.71 (±7.44) years old. The average length of experience in neonatal care was 10.83 (±7.43) years. The majority of participants indicated that their units have locally developed pain care guidelines (40/73%), and that parental involvement is part of those (42/76%). Involving parents in pain care is sometimes perceived as an important part of their unit’s culture and practice (34/63%), while it is often an important part of their role (37/68%). Participants perceive that educating parents in infant’s pain care is sometimes an important part of their unit’s culture and practice (28/52%) and that sometimes nurses have resources and knowledge to prepare and teach parents (27/49%).
Conclusion: Although protocols including parental involvement in pain care exist, nurses require resources and support to effectively educate and prepare parents for this role. Gaining deeper insight into nurses’ perspectives will help identify strategies to standardize and strengthen parental involvement in NICU pain care.
Description
Parental involvement provides effective and safe pain care for neonates through strategies such as skin-to-skin and breastfeeding. This needs assessment included 55 nurses from across Canada. Neonatal units have protocols supporting parental involvement in pain care, but resources to educate and prepare parents for this task are needed. Gaining deeper insight into nurses’ perspectives will help identify strategies to standardize and strengthen parental involvement in pain care.