Parent experience of Beads of Courage program in a neonatal intensive care unit.

AIM: The neonatal intensive care unit can be a stressful environment for parents. The Beads of Courage program is an arts-in-medicine, psychosocial intervention, designed to strengthen and support children and families who are coping with serious or life-threatening illness. We hypothesised that the program would improve the parent experience in the neonatal unit. METHODS: Infants less than 32 weeks' gestation were eligible for enrolment on the program. The study was conducted from 2016 to 2018. A 13 point questionnaire was sent to participating parents post discharge from the unit including a combination of Likert scale and open-ended questions. RESULTS: During the study period 123 infants were enrolled. Mean gestational age was 27.7(±2.2) weeks and median length of stay was 49 days (lower quartile 34; upper quartile 76). All respondents rated the program as "helpful and enjoyable" with 72.5% rating it "extremely helpful and enjoyable", 85% felt the program made their stay in the neonatal unit easier. CONCLUSION: The Beads of Courage program was found to be an extremely popular initiative for parents in a neonatal unit setting and was found to be a useful adjunct to communication and inclusion of parents in the care of their infants. SUMMARY: The Beads of Courage program in a NICU setting was found to be very helpful for parents in improving awareness of procedures and understanding overall care of their infants. Parents felt their journey was made easier with the additional engagement and communication with being in the program.