The Effect Of A Developmental Supportive Care Training Program For NICU Nurses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of developmental supportive care(DSC) training program for NICU nurses in China.The program evaluation used a quasi-experimental one group pre-test/post-test design. There were twenty-five NICU nurses participated the 8-week training program. The measured outcomes are nurses' knowledge of DSC, nurses' attributes of DSC and nurse behaviors during bath, feeding and inserting intravenous line.1-month after intervention, the results of nurses' knowledge of DSC showed there were significant increases in the mean scores(t=-8.614; p=.000), the results of nurses' attributes of DSC showed there were significant increases in the mean scores(z=-3.969; p=.000).1-month and 3-month after intervention, there were significant increases in the mean percentages of the supportive nurse behaviors in the post-training bath, feeding and inserting intravenous line. There were also significant increases in the mean percentages of the supportive nurse behaviors in the diffidence caregiving procedures.These results indicated that the DSC training successfully enhanced nurses' knowledge and attributes, altered the nurse behaviors to implement DSC in bath, feeding and inserting intravenous line. Nurses could adjust the timing and pace of the caregiving based on the infant behavioral cues. The results of this study showed the potential of such training program did help NICU nurses implement DSC.