Information to parents in the neonatal unit

We aimed to identify the principal components during neonatal care regarding parents' views of the information received, and to analyse the relationships between these variables and parental characteristics. We surveyed a convenience sample of 141 parents with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, based on the EMPATHIC-N questionnaire. Principal component analysis revealed that parents viewed the information provided as either critical or general. The importance of critical information was not significantly dependent on any demographic variable, but the rating for general information was significantly related to parental educational level and the infant's gestational age. Hence, the results suggest no need to discriminate among parents regarding the way critical information is presented, but parents with a lower educational level and/or a more premature infant should receive more thorough general information. The value of these results is limited by the fact that the questionnaire was not validated for the Swedish context.