Information and interaction opportunities: Experiences of mothers of babies at the neonatal intensive care unit, Accra, Ghana: A qualitative study

Despite calls to improve information and interaction opportunities between preterm mothers and healthcare workers in order to enhance optimal care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), evidence is lacking in lower and middle-income countries like Ghana. Therefore, this paper attempts to address this knowledge gap by exploring mothers' experiences of information and interaction opportunities with healthcare workers about their preterm at the neonatal intensive care unit in the 37 Military Hospital, Ghana. A qualitative research investigation was used for the study. The authors further employed the narrative inquiry qualitative approach. A purposive sampling technique was used to select an estimated number of 18 participants to participate in the study. However, after saturation was reached where new themes no longer emerged, (15) participants were allowed to participate in the study. Thus, fifteen (15) in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted for the mothers, as well as (2) focus group discussions (FGDs). The authors discovered that a mother's socioeconomic status influenced information and interaction opportunities between mothers and health care workers. Second, the mood of the healthcare worker at a given time shaped information and interaction about their babies at the NICU; and lastly, doctors were in possession of more adequate information about babies than nurses, which sometimes affected mothers' access to information about their babies. To enhance information and interaction opportunities, there is a need to address the shortfalls in delivering optimal care at the NICU.