Perceptions of parent–staff communication in Neonatal Intensive Care: The development of a rating scale

This paper presents the development of a rating scale generated from parents' views associated with a range of communication issues in NICU.The study was conducted at 2 time points within the first 2 weeks after birth. Seven hundred and forty-eight responses were obtained. The scale produced internally reliable results. Factor analyses generated three themes, ‘general barriers’, ‘personal relationships’ and ‘participation’ which reflect the developing relationships and changing communication needs over time. It was hypothesised that the ratings would be influenced by parents' levels of anxiety/depression as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and their perceptions of social support, as measured by the General Functioning Subscale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF). Weak correlationships were found between the communication scale and both the HADS and the FAD-GF, such that parents who rated communication more negatively tended to have higher levels of anxiety/depression and more negative perceptions of social support.