Formulating Parents' Feelings: Analyzing Parent-Nurse Conversations in Family-Integrated Neonatal Care to Develop Communication Training

Objective The novel concept of Family-Integrated Care (FICare) requires nurses to be parents' partners in neonatal care. We combined analyses of real-life parent-nurse conversations and interviews to elucidate nurses' role in providing psychosocial support to parents. Findings inform the development of communication training on topicalizing parents' feelings. Methods Conversation analysis of 15 audio-recorded parent-nurse conversations, and thematic analysis of interviews with 2 nurses. Results In parent-nurse conversations, nurses showed a “balancing act” in formulating parents' feelings, revealing the complexities of addressing parents' feelings. Overall, parents confirmed nurses' formulations, but also expanded or modified them, or indicated restricted conversational space. In the interviews, nurses discussed four purposes of conversations with parents, emphasizing elaborating on parents' feelings, while discussing associated challenges. Conclusion Our conversation analysis revealed a continuum of nurses' formulations of parents' feelings, and nurses' reflections illuminated how and when the formulations were used to invite parents' “feelings talk”. Innovation This study is the first to use conversation analysis to analyze parent-nurse conversations. Additionally, it pioneers combining these analyses with interviews, inviting nurses to reflect on how to incorporate the findings into FICare. This combination strongly informs the development of tailored communication training, drawing from real-life conversations and nurses' articulated needs.