Exploring Parental Experiences of Neonatal Care: A Literature Review into 1 Parental Experiences of Bereavement, Loss and Grief within the NICU & an IPA Analysis of Fathers’ Experiences of Neonatal Care

The literature review aims to understand the parental experiences of bereavement, loss and grief within the NICU. The review explored how parents understand their grief and loss from the time of bereavement to life after bereavement and the implications for further research and clinical provision of support for parents.

A systematic search was carried out using EBSCOHost and PubMed databases, Google Scholar and hand searching, in March 2024. Articles were restricted to peer reviewed and written in English with no date limiters. Studies were reviewed based on the stated inclusion and exclusion criteria which resulted in 10 papers included in the review. All papers were qualitative and evaluated using the JBI Critical Appraisal for Qualitative research (JBI, 2015).

The included papers were reviewed and thematically synthesised. Two themes were included, the immediate grief and grief over time. Six subthemes were included: big emotions, communication, being a parent, growth after grief, grief doesn’t go away and support.

A bereavement in the NICU is a life-changing experience for parents, from the psychological impact to the new outlook on life to a change in their personal identity. Findings should inform support offered to parents to ensure they are appropriately supported through this major event. The literature review depicts key research findings, implications for clinical practice, limitations of the review and future research directions in understanding bereavement, loss and grief within the NICU.