Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was describe mother-reported family needs across three clinically distinct neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) settings within a single tertiary hospital and to explore whether theory-based Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Family Needs Inventory (NFNI) item-group summary scores showed between-setting differences.

Materials and Methods: This single-centre cross-sectional study included 116 Turkish-speaking mothers enrolled after their infants had been hospitalised for at least 7 days between February and May 2022. Mothers completed the 56-item NFNI, which was analysed as five theory-based item-group mean scores: assurance, information, proximity, comfort, and support. Item-group scores were compared across NICU settings using Kruskal–Wallis tests, with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons when appropriate. Item-level priorities and mother-nominated priority items were summarised descriptively.

Results: Overall mean theory-based item-group scores were highest for proximity (3.63±0.44), assurance (3.60±0.39), and information (3.49±0.47). The only detectable unadjusted between-setting signal was observed for proximity (H=7.631, p=0.022, ε²=0.050), with higher scores in NICU 3 than NICU 1 (median 4.00 vs 3.62; Bonferroni-corrected p=0.005). Adjusted estimates were attenuated and imprecise in exploratory models with limited adjustment for gestational age or birth weight, length of stay, and maternal education. The highest-ranked items concerned best possible care, honest answers, daily physician communication, and information about the infant’s care.

Conclusion: Mother-reported needs clustered around proximity, assurance, and information. The proximity finding should be interpreted as a context-linked and access-dependent pattern rather than evidence of an independent unit effect.

Supplementary materials
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Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Metin Baz H, Durak U, Alagöz M, Karaca Ahat T, Yılmaz Gençer T, Büyükavcı MA, et al. Mother-reported family needs across distinct neonatal intensive care settings: A cross-sectional study. Turk J Pediatr Dis. 2026;Early View:1-8. https://doi.org/10.12956/TJPD.2026.1381