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“Each family has a story:” lived experiences of NICU families from staff perspectives

Journal of Perinatology (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Most Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) literature focuses on parent perspectives, overlooking how staff perceive and respond to family needs. We examined NICU staff perceptions to understand family experiences through a relational and systemic lens.

Design

We conducted five focus groups (N = 22) with multidisciplinary staff and used an inductive-deductive approach to identify themes.

Results

Staff emphasized that families have both unique journeys and common experiences. Staff described how sociocultural barriers, trauma histories, and the reproductive/NICU journey shape family stress. Common stressors include multiple traumas, grief and guilt, and ongoing uncertainty. Although coping strategies are influenced by family values/goals and prior experiences, staff commonly observed emotion-driven behaviors, involvement in care, and less self-care. Staff also noted that the NICU can disrupt family dynamics and communication, yet existing relationship dynamics shape family impact.

Conclusion

Staff perspectives provide additional context for understanding family experiences and highlight the need for tailored family-centered care.

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Data availability

Data available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the staff in Newborn Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital who graciously offered to participate in these interviews.

Funding

VG is supported by a K23 award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K23HD110597). A-MV is supported by a K24 award from the National Institute Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (1K24AT011760-01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Newborn Medicine, Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA, USA

    Elise M. Belkin, Paul H. Lerou & Victoria A. Grunberg

  2. University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Elise M. Belkin

  3. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Paul H. Lerou, Ana-Maria Vranceanu & Victoria A. Grunberg

  4. Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research, Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA, USA

    Ana-Maria Vranceanu & Victoria A. Grunberg

Authors
  1. Elise M. Belkin
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  2. Paul H. Lerou
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  3. Ana-Maria Vranceanu
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  4. Victoria A. Grunberg
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Contributions

Conceptualization: EB, VG; Data curation: EB, VG; Formal analysis: EB, VG; Investigation: EB, PHL, AMV, VG; Methodology: EB, VG, AMV; Project administration: VG; Funding Support: PHL, VG; Resources: PHL, AMV, VG; Supervision: VG; Roles/Writing—original draft: EB; and Writing—review and editing: EB, VG, PHL, AMV.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria A. Grunberg.

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Competing interests

We declare no relevant conflicts of interest. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All methods were performed in accordance with guidelines and regulations. Approval was obtained from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institutional Review Board (Reference number: 2022P002861). Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Belkin, E.M., Lerou, P.H., Vranceanu, AM. et al. “Each family has a story:” lived experiences of NICU families from staff perspectives. J Perinatol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02435-6

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