Relationship between nurses' caregiving behaviors and preterm infants' responses to bathing

Bathing of preterm infants can potentially cause disruptions in the infants' behavioral responses. Considering the prevalence of preterm infants in Iran, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurses' caregiving behaviors and preterm infants' responses to bathing.

In this study, conducted in 2018 in the neonatal intensive care unit of Rouhani Babol Hospital, 60 babies were bathed by 7 nurses. The nurses' caregiving behaviors and the baby's behavioral responses were video recorded. Using a pre-prepared checklist, the nurses' caregiving behaviors and the baby's behavioral responses were observed and recorded every 10 seconds to determine the frequency. Pearson's correlation coefficient and a multivariable logistic regression model were used to analyze the data. A value of p<0.05 was considered significant.

The mean intrauterine age of the infants was 31.72±1.77 weeks and the mean age of the nurses was 29.62±1.75 years. In this study, nurse talk was directly related to finger grasping and opening, punching (p=0.049), and eye closing in infants (p=0.020). The nurse's gentle touching of the baby was directly related to the baby's emoticon (p=0.025). There was a direct relationship between suddenly and forcefully grabbing the baby with sudden jumps, tremors, and muscle contraction (p=0.004) and closing the eyes (p=0.037).

Nurses' caregiving behaviors are related to infants' stressful behaviors during bathing, so the occurrence of infants' stressful behaviors can be significantly reduced by quality nursing care.