Organizational Sensegiving in Family-Centered Care: How NICU Nurses Help Families Make Sense of the NICU Experience

As frontline caregivers, nurses play a central role in the coordination and delivery of family-centered care (FCC) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Nurses see first-hand the fear, uncertainty, and anxiety parents experience due to unfamiliar and intimidating elements of neonatal care and the NICU environment. This study examines the sensegiving strategies nurses use to help families make sense of their NICU experience. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 NICU nurses at a mid-size nonprofit hospital. Findings reveal nurses utilize four sensegiving strategies to influence parents' understanding of, response to, and participation in neonatal care practices: educate parents, personalize information, promote open communication, and encourage meaningful involvement. Overall, nurses rely on communication to align parents' meaning construction with FCC features and goals. Hospital administrators and nurse managers should integrate this study's findings into nurse training and professional development opportunities to teach nurses about parental sensemaking, factors that affect nurse sensegiving efforts, how to create effective sensegiving strategies, and sensegiving challenges they may face. Healthcare leaders should also provide organizational structures, resources, and continuing education programs that help nurses cope with the emotional demands of sensegiving. Moreover, nurses should talk to colleagues or supervisors and participate in self-care activities if sensegiving starts to impact their well-being or ability to provide effective FCC.