Fostering Partnership Between Pediatric Nurses and Parents of High-Risk Infants: A Mixed Method Approach

This study investigated the experience of partnership development according to the degree of partnership between pediatric nurses and the parents of high-risk infants to identify the process of developing partnership using a two-step design with methodological triangulation that combined quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the first stage, 54 pairs of parents of high-risk infants in a NICU and their babies’ primary nurses participated in the quantitative component of the study through a partnership survey. Based on the partnership scores obtained via the survey, we divided the participants into two groups: (1) a 4.0-point-and-higher group and (2) a group of over 3.0, but under 4.0 points, and thereafter included them in the qualitative component of the study—a semi-structured interview. We found that the core category influencing the pediatric nurses’ partnership was “being a guide in working together,” whereas for the parents, it was “getting along with the nurse based on faith.” The process of partnership development between pediatric nurses and parents differed based on high and low partnership scores. Our study is meaningful in that it validated and added to the developing literature on the partnership between parents and nurses in NICU situations while considering the South Korean culture, and comprehensively explaining such partnership development from the parent’s and nurse’s individual perspectives. Considering the partnership development process between pediatric nurses and the parents of high-risk infants in the NICU based on their values and needs to promote partnership, a nursing intervention strategy to provide proper nursing management needs to be developed.