Parental Perceptions of In-person and Telehealth Home Visitation After NICU Discharge: A Qualitative Study

Families that are discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) oftentimes need additional support which is provided by NICU follow-up home visitation programs. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused numerous programs to shift to telehealth visitation. Following the pandemic, many of those home visitation programs continue to offer telehealth support while transitioning back to in-person care. This qualitative study aims to analyze parent attitudes toward telehealth and in-person care delivery. Through analysis, 6 main themes were generated: staff support, telehealth challenges, telehealth convenience, telehealth engagement, in-person engagement, and family preferences. The hybrid participants preferred in-person visitation due to better learning and interactions, while the telehealth group leaned toward telehealth visitation for its convenience. Nevertheless, most parents desired a hybrid mode of service delivery. Both groups shared similar thoughts about the effectiveness and convenience of telehealth. Hence, telehealth is an effective method of service delivery for home visitation programs from a parent perspective. However, depending on the family and their needs, in-person services could be encouraged to further develop the learning experience and the parent-provider rapport. For a majority of families, hybrid support provides the most suitable combination of both care models.