'Moving the boundaries': understanding the concept of parental mental health after a child's admission to intensive care.

每年，英国有超过10万名婴儿接受新生儿护理，约占出生婴儿的八分之一。这种住院可能对父母的心理健康产生不利影响，有证据表明，多达43%的母亲在婴儿从新生儿重症监护室（NICU）出院时会经历中度至重度焦虑。新生儿重症监护室使父母面临高度的威胁和不确定性，强制分离限制了早期建立联系的机会，使父母在突然过渡到家中时非常脆弱。然而，人们对父母的经历或帮助他们的最佳方式知之甚少。实施混合方法的设计，目前的研究旨在概念化的母亲和父亲出院后的育儿经验。它将探讨过渡时期的痛苦轨迹，同时探讨父母的关键支持需求。父母的痛苦与婴儿的认知和身体发育、成长、情感和行为问题的不良后果有关。同样，也观察到了母婴关系和亲子关系做法方面的负面结果。更好地了解可能经历长期痛苦的父母的支持需求，并制定有针对性的干预措施，将改善这些困境，减少不必要的重新入院，减轻个人，社会和经济负担。

Every year, over 100,000 babies across the UK receive neonatal care, approximating to one in eight of those born. This hospitalisation can have detrimental effects for parents' mental health, with evidence to suggest as many as 43% of mothers experience moderate to severe levels of anxiety at the time their infant is discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The NICU exposes parents to high levels of threat and uncertainty and the enforced separation limits early bonding opportunities, making parents incredibly vulnerable during the abrupt transition to home. However, little is known about parents' experiences or the best way to help them. Implementing a mixed methods design, the current research aims to conceptualise the post-discharge parenting experience for both mothers and fathers. It will explore the trajectory of distress during the transition period, while exploring the key support needs for parents. Parental distress is associated with adverse outcomes for the infant's cognitive and physical development, growth, emotional and behavioural problems. Negative outcomes regarding mother-infant bonding and caregiving practices have likewise been observed. Better knowledge of the support needs of parents who are likely to experience prolonged distress, and development of tailored intervention, will ameliorate these adversities and reduce unnecessary readmissions, reducing personal, societal and economic burden.