Educational Programme to Implement Skin-to-skin Contact for Preterm Infants in the Intensive Care Units: Qualitative Study Proposal

Skin-to-skin contact (SSC) has been widely adopted as an efficacious and useful approach to neonatal care. Despite the endorsement of this practice by the World Health Organization (WHO) over a decade ago, healthcare institutions in South Africa, particularly in the North West Province (NWP), have shown limited progress with regard to its implementation. Of particular concern is the fact that South Africa accounts for 60% of the global mortality rate among low birth weight (LBW) preterm infants. Therefore, an educational programme can be beneficial for both parents and nurses in implementing SSC for preterm infants in intensive care units, with the aim of reducing the neonatal mortality rate.

The aim of this research is to develop an educational programme to implement SSC for preterm infants in intensive care units of the NWP.

This study will be conducted in three phases. Phase 1: An integrative literature review (ILR) will be conducted by following these five steps: formulation of the review question, search strategy, critical appraisal, data analysis, synthesis and conclusion. Phase 2 represents an empirical study using a qualitative exploratory and descriptive design. Purposive sampling will be used to select two populations. Population one will be parents of preterm infants and population two will be registered nurses and midwives. Semi-structured focus group discussions (FGDs) with a minimum of six participants will be used to collect data in both populations until reaching data saturation. Data will then be analyzed using steps proposed by Creswell and Clark. Phase 3 consists of the development of an educational programme to implement SSC for preterm infants in intensive care units, using Kellogg’s Logic Model (KLM). The following three KLM steps will be used for the development of an educational programme: inputs and activities, identifying outputs, outcomes, and outcomes indicators.

The study furnishes an introduction to the research, the aim and objectives of the research as well as the research methodology that will be adhered to. The results obtained from phases 1 and 2 will be used to form the basis for the development of an education programme in phase 3.