State of the art in parent-driven pain and stress relieving interventions in neonatal care ? a scoping review

Pain in the newborn period puts the individual at risk of developing short- and long-term negative consequences. To provide sufficient prevention and treatment of pain is a cornerstone of neonatal care. This should be done with a multimodal approach, using non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions. Many of the latter can be delivered by the parents. Little is known to which extent these methods are used by parents, or how the parents experience delivering them.

Objectives

1) Explore, synthesize and identify possible research gaps in the evidence for the effectiveness of parent-driven pain and stress relieving interventions in neonatal care,

2) Describe parental experiences of delivering pain and stress relief to their newborn infant, and

3) Investigate and summarize recommendations in national and international guidelines.