Developmental care on newborn intensive care units: Nurses’ experiences and neurodevelopmental, behavioural, and parenting outcomes. A critical review of the literature

Important development occurs in the fetus throughout the final weeks of pregnancy. For infants born before 35 weeks gestation, this development occurs in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) where they are handled frequently and endure invasive, stressful procedures. Developmental care reduces stressful stimuli by attempting to imitate the intrauterine environment.This review of the literature proposes that infants who receive developmental care demonstrate improved neurodevelopmental outcomes until the age of two and seem less likely to develop long-term disabilities and behavioural problems by 5½ years of age. Parents report lower levels of stress and seem to develop more mutually understanding relationships with their infants if they received developmental care and nurses observe an improvement in the well-being of these infants. However, the implementation of developmental care can be costly and would require careful planning to avoid some of the difficulties that arise with such a change in practice.