Presenter Kathryn Elliott Honours Thesis Bachelor of Social

Presenter: Kathryn Elliott Honours Thesis – Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) Victoria University Supervisors: Prof Marty Grace (Victoria University) Dr Anita Morris (Western Health) Karina Rosa (Western Health) Leila Rahimi (Victoria University)

§ Introduction § Background § Research Aims § Research Questions § Literature Review § Theoretical Framework § Research Design § Preliminary Findings § Parent’s experiences

§ Admission rates across Victoria § 15. 4% of live births in Australia were admitted to a SCN or NICU. In Victoria 15. 8% of the total admitted across Australia. § Attachment and Bonding/ Kangaroo Care § The Role of Social Work in the SCN

§ Explore the experiences of parents whose infants are in the SCN. § To contribute the psychosocial wellbeing of parents and infants. § Optimise hospital service design to facilitate an improved attachment and bonding that can be disrupted with an infant’s admission into a SCN

§ What hospital practices promote the development of relationships between parents and their babies who have been admitted to Special Care Nurseries? § What hospital practices limit the development of relationships between parents and their babies who have been admitted to Special Care Nurseries? § What changes to hospital practices and social work services could promote the development of healthy parent and child relationships in circumstances where there is disruption to the usual processes of early bonding and attachment, in particular when a baby has been admitted to a Special Care Nursery?

Literature Review • Parent-Infant Relationship Building, attachment and the Importance of Kangaroo Care. • The Nurses Role and the Neonatal Nursery. • Psychosocial Well-being and Psychosocial Support in Neonatal Nurseries. • Social Work, the Neonatal Intensive Care and the Special Care Nursery.

Theoretical Framework • Critical Social Work Theory • Social Context • Family Centred Care • Hospital Setting • Attachment Theory • Good Attachment, Supporting Wellbeing

Study Design • Qualitative Research Design Recruitment / Data Collection • Parents with infants currently admitted to Special Care Nursery • Individual interviews • Parent or current caregiver • Over 18 years • Face to face • Onsite at Sunshine Hospital • Voice recorded Data Analysis • Thematic Analysis • Transcribed Verbatim Ethical Considerations • Ethics Approved through WH LREP • Confidentiality • Recruitment

Participants (n=10) Age 24 -38 Participants 8 Mothers and 2 Fathers Other dependants All first time parents Location All lived within 30 minutes Family / Social support All had family and Social Support/ All participants were partnered with the other parent Emotional Support Parents identified a need for emotional support Peer Support Parents identified the need for peer to peer support in the SCN Social Work 2 parents identified the need for Social Work specifically but all identified an need for a individual to provide support, emotional, practical and peer support.

Emotional Support Of course, I would have loved to have talked to someone at that time and because I was really struggling. What kept me going was the baby. Every time seeing him looking at me and seeing him smile. I think every woman that has just delivered a baby, they need social worker or someone to talk to about what they are going through that day and at that time.

Engagement with the SCN “Very…. quite, scared, nervous and you know, not the preference. But at the same time I think, fortunate that it was picked up so quickly. It wasn’t, there weren’t signs and symptoms we would have recognised. But yeah very, very upset especially when we came into this ward and particularly with seeing the Humidi Cribs. That was, was a bit of breakdown. ” Separation

Relationship Building Kangaroo Care/Bonding I knew that he was in safe hands and then they would tell me to have skin to skin which is Kangaroo Care and I would do that over time. That’s when I developed the bond.

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