Neonatal Nurses’ Perceived Barriers to the Provision of Developmental Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units of Selected Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: studies have shown that there are multitudes of antecedent factors that may influence the way providers perceive the care they provide. Understanding these factors is essential for the successful planning and implementation of developmental care provision in the neonatal intensive care units. Nurses are the frontline care provider in the neonatal intensive care units as their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice is wide. In spite of this, there are a few investigation on nurses’ perceived barrier assessments of neonatal developmental care provision. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find out Nurses’ perceived barriers to the provision of developmental care in neonatal intensive care units of governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Methods: across-sectional survey was employed. A total of 90 nurses (n=90) working in neonatal intensive care units of five governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were participants of the study. Convenience sampling technique was used. The data were collected by using structured questionnaire in May 2019.Summary of samples and measures were done using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis tests (nonparametric comparisons) were used to compare the differences of nurses’ perceived barriers according to various demographic groups.Results: The overall job satisfaction were the most perceived barrier that affects nurses perception on neonatal developmental care provision (M=2.44,SD=.21). Most of (93.3%) of the participants agreed that work overload (93.3%) and staff development opportunities (87.7%)were the main barriers among job satisfaction barriers. Kruskalwallis test shows that significant differences were found between job satisfaction barriers and year of experience (Kw2, 38.84; P=0.01), and level of education and job satisfaction (Kw2, 20.13; P=0.021).The nurses who had more experience agreed more on job satisfaction barriers.Conclusion: The most common nurses’ perceived barriers to the provision of developmental care were job satisfaction barriers. Work overload and staff development opportunities received the highest ratings. Poor relationship with the coworker were less perceived as an obstacle when compared with the other barriers. Governmental efforts are needed to increase the nurses’ job satisfaction, thus improve patients’ perceptions of care quality and ensure an adequate nursing workforce. This in turn provides to adjust the gaps in providing quality neonatal intensive care units developmental care by nurses in different hospitals.

Keywords: Developmental care; Barriers; Perception

DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/115-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2024