| Offer formalized support at each stage of care |
Before birth, [learning about] healthy child development, eating properly, sleeping, all of those that are stressors before baby is born, ways to reduce stress, the family development, and accepting help…During first hospitalization, ways to get involved with the baby’s care while the baby is very sick. During any hospitalization, caring for yourself is so important. Mother 15 …Just think it would be healthy…to know certain stuff probably before, or even after, or during [hospitalization]…any information you can get is good because…for everything that you’re taught, you can learn something new, something different, or you know, different ways to cope with stuff. Mother 9 |
| Develop brief psychosocial intervention models |
Two to three meetings gives you kind of the intro and time to at least have one follow-up to answer questions…It’s hard to focus for an hour in general, let alone when…all that is going down. Mother 19 Shorter meetings…like maybe fifteen minutes to a half an hour interval, because…an hour away during hospitalization, I know for myself, I wouldn’t be able to focus. Father 7 |
| Provide in-person individualized or small group support |
It would be helpful to talk with other parents directly, I don’t like the idea of reading stories [about other parents’ experiences] because I’m not a reader. And I would rather talk with people in person. Father 17 …a small group…you feel a little bit more attention from the actual people that are giving you the information…instead of just listening to a speech. Father 10 When you have a larger group it’s hard to get everything that they are talking about. If you have a smaller group or one family at a time… everyone gets some time. Mother 16 |
| Engage interdisciplinary providers and peer mentors to provide psychosocial support |
In terms of getting people to come up with a plan, coming up with strategies, opening up to acceptance, I think a psychologist is more beneficial…The issues that are about you should eat well and you should sleep…I would have wanted to hear it from a nurse. The parent would be amazing in terms of being able to give feedback on stress reducers, caring for the baby afterwards, this was my experience. Mother 15 I like the fact that the nurse would be included…I like the fact that the people taking care of your child are involved…and they can obviously teach you how to soothe your baby and stuff like that. Mother 2 Just talking to…other parents who went through the experience…it would’ve been helpful for me. Finding out about others…it would just say, “Oh, look at her. She has her baby and…now the baby is growing up and the same will happen with my baby.” Yeah, it would’ve been useful for me. Mother 6 |
