Investigating parental perspectives of enablers and barriers to communication with their preterm infants: A narrative study

Learning to communicate with infants in a neonatal unit setting is challenging. Parents need time and support to feel confident and acquire skills that enable them to care for, be close to, and communicate with their infant. This qualitative, narrative-based study sought to investigate parents’ understanding of factors that enhance or prevent the development of early communication and interaction between preterm infants and parents within a neonatal setting. Our study used a narrative interview approach with eight parents of premature infants, to explore the enablers and challenges to communication. Reflective thematic analysis revealed four main themes: Impact of being in the neonatal unit, different communication strategies, communication barriers and an ongoing need for support at home. Our findings provide parental insight into communication between themselves and their premature infants. Overall, parents spoke highly of communication strategies that they were taught but it was clear they received varying advice and support, in the neonatal unit and post-discharge. There is a need for clear, consistent, and culturally appropriate communication strategies with greater awareness of how to facilitate them. Since failure to enable parent-infant interactions may potentially mean delayed language development, there is an essential need for tailored parent-accessible resources.