Parents experiences of discharge readiness from a Swedish neonatal intensive care unit
Open accessAbstract
AIM: The aim of this study was to describe how parents experienced the support at, and preparation for discharge from, the NICU and how they experienced the first time at home. DESIGN: A qualitative design with quantitative elements was applied. METHODS: A questionnaire study. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis with quantitative elements. RESULTS: The majority of included parents felt adequately prepared for going home and sufficiently supported during the first period home. Negative experiences were related to lack of time for preparation, lack of support and information, especially about the infant's food intake, breastfeeding, and tube feeding, and lack of follow-up counselling post discharge. This study supports that parents who are closely involved in their infant's care at the NICU, and who stay with the infant at the NICU around the clock, are well prepared for the transition to home.
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Preterm infants may experience challenges with feeding and basic care.
“Despite meeting discharge criteria, preterm infants are often smaller than full‐term infants, with underdeveloped organs, and may experience challenges with feeding and basic care (Aydon et al. 2018; Bright et al. 2020; Larsson et al. 2017; Spence et al. 2023; Waldron 2022).”
From Experiences and Perceptions of Hospital to Home Transitional Care for Parents of Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Meta‐Synthesis (2025) · cites this paper as Larsson et al. 2017
The Results section, “The experience of the first period at home” (page unavailable), reports parents’ concerns about infants’ food intake, weight gain and tube feeding, along with the practical demands of care. But the Method section, “Data collection” (page unavailable), says the sample included both premature and full-term infants; the paper does not establish that the reported difficulties were specific to preterm infants. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredParents of premature infants learned to empathise with their partners and increased their sense of responsibility toward their babies while caregiving.
“Additionally, parents of premature infants learned to empathise with their partners and increased their sense of responsibility toward their babies while caregiving (Breivold et al. 2019; Larsson et al. 2017; Spence et al. 2023; Toral‐López et al. 2016; Waldron 2022).”
From Experiences and Perceptions of Hospital to Home Transitional Care for Parents of Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Meta‐Synthesis (2025) · cites this paper as Larsson et al. 2017
The Results section (‘The experience of preparing for discharge’; page not provided) says parents’ participation and responsibility in infant care gradually increased during the NICU stay. The paper does not report that parents learned to empathise with their partners, so it supports only the responsibility part of the claim. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSome parents identified barriers during transition, including lack of notification regarding discharge timing and discrepancies between expectations and reality.
“Some parents identified barriers encountered during the transition, including a lack of notification regarding their child's discharge timing and discrepancies between their expectations and the reality of the process (Breivold et al. 2019; Larsson et al. 2017; Lundqvist et al. 2019; Spence et al. 2023; Toral‐López et al. 2016; Waldron 2022).”
From Experiences and Perceptions of Hospital to Home Transitional Care for Parents of Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Meta‐Synthesis (2025) · cites this paper as Larsson et al. 2017
In Results (“The experience of preparing for discharge”; page not provided), some parents said discharge felt unplanned and unstructured and that they lacked time to prepare. This supports barriers during the transition, but the passage does not specifically say parents were not notified of discharge timing or describe a discrepancy between their expectations and the process as it unfolded. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPreterm infants are often smaller than full-term infants despite meeting discharge criteria.
“Despite meeting discharge criteria, preterm infants are often smaller than full‐term infants, with underdeveloped organs, and may experience challenges with feeding and basic care (Aydon et al. 2018; Bright et al. 2020; Larsson et al. 2017; Spence et al. 2023; Waldron 2022).”
From Experiences and Perceptions of Hospital to Home Transitional Care for Parents of Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Meta‐Synthesis (2025) · cites this paper as Larsson et al. 2017
The Method (Study setting; page unavailable) says discharge required satisfactory weight gain but had no fixed weight threshold. The Method (Data collection; page unavailable) identifies preterm infants in the sample. Neither passage compares their size at discharge with that of full-term infants; searches for that comparison and for discharge weight found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.77)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPreterm infants have underdeveloped organs.
“Despite meeting discharge criteria, preterm infants are often smaller than full‐term infants, with underdeveloped organs, and may experience challenges with feeding and basic care (Aydon et al. 2018; Bright et al. 2020; Larsson et al. 2017; Spence et al. 2023; Waldron 2022).”
From Experiences and Perceptions of Hospital to Home Transitional Care for Parents of Premature Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Meta‐Synthesis (2025) · cites this paper as Larsson et al. 2017
The Method (Data collection; page unavailable) says that 39 infants were born prematurely, and the Background describes complex care needs, but neither addresses organ development. Searches for “underdeveloped organs” and “immature organ development” found no passage in our copy supporting the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
Griffin, T., & Abraham, M. (2006) · The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing · doi:10.1097/00005237-200607000-00012 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Discharge and beyond. A longitudinal study comparing stress and coping in parents of preterm infants
Rowe, J., & Jones, L. (2010) · Journal of Neonatal Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.jnn.2010.07.018 · Cited by 49 · cited 2× · see citing works
“It is important that NICU staff effectively plan discharge together with the parents to support the parents when they return to home after hospital stay (Rowe & Jones, 2010).”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 15
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- Shin, H., & White‐Traut, R. (2007). The conceptual structure of transition to motherhood in the neonatal intensive care unit. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 58, 90– 98. 17394620
- Smith, V. C., Dukhovny, D., Zupancic, J. A., Gates, H. B., & Pursley, D. M. (2012). Neonatal intensive care unit discharge preparedness: Primary care implications. Clinical Pediatrics, 51, 454– 461. 22278175
- Smith, V. C., Hwang, S. S., Dukhovny, D., Young, S., & Pursley, D. M. (2013). Neonatal intensive care unit discharge preparation, family readiness and infant outcomes: Connecting the dots. Journal of Perinatology, 33, 415– 421. 23492936
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Experiences of Mothers of Extremely Preterm Infants after Hospital Discharge
Granero-Molina, J., Fernández Medina, I. M., Fernández-Sola, C., Hernández-Padilla, J. M., Jiménez Lasserrotte, M. D. M., & López Rodríguez, M. D. M. (2019) · Journal of Pediatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2018.12.003 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Hua, W., Wang, L., Li, C., Simoni, J. M., Yuwen, W., & Jiang, L. (2021) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.14676 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Lu, Q., Liu, X., Shen, Q., Wang, S., & Liu, Z. (2025) · Nursing Open · doi:10.1002/nop2.70387 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Despite meeting discharge criteria, preterm infants are often smaller than full-term infants, with underde-veloped organs, and may experience challenges with feeding and basic care (Aydon et al. 2018; Bright et al. 2020; Larsson et al. 2017; Spence et al. 2023; Waldron 2022).”
Influential
- Authors
- Larsson, C., Wågström, U., Normann, E., & Thernström Blomqvist, Y.
- Affiliations
- Uppsala University Hospital (SE)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; University Hospital; Uppsala Sweden
- ORCID
- Normann, Erik
- Venue
- Nursing Open
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-11-09
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 90-95
- ISSN
- 2054-1058 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5340163
- OpenAlex
- W2551678464
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 3.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nursing Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Radiological and Ultrasound Technology › Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- parental experiences, neonatal intensive care unit, discharge readiness, transition to home, parental support, breastfeeding, tube feeding, infant feeding, parental involvement in infant care
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