Fellow University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Background: Admission to the NICU is a stressful experience for caregivers. Recognition of this stress and its ultimate effect on infant health has led towards a family centered care approach, a hallmark of which is inclusion of caregivers in the care team. However, it is not known if caregivers feel included as a member of the team and progress through stages of teamwork. Tuckman's Model of Group Development is a framework of teaming widely used in business literature that describes stages of teamwork. Our goal is that by identifying patterns of teaming, we can better engage caregivers as true members of the care team. Objective: The primary aim of this pilot study is to determine if caregivers of infants in the NICU perceive that they are included as members of their child's healthcare team and to determine if there are patterns of progression through the Tuckman's stages of teaming. The secondary aim is to perform confirmatory factor analysis on the team maturity scale that has been modified to better suit the healthcare setting. Design/Methods: Eligible participants (caregivers of infants born < 30 weeks gestational age) will be identified via chart review of admissions during the recruitment period from Jan-March 2024, with a plan to enroll 10 caregivers. Exclusion criteria include caregivers of infants likely to die in the first week, foster families, and limited English proficiency. On enrollment, caregivers complete a modified 32-item Tuckman Team Maturity Scale. The scale will be repeated once every 2-4 weeks throughout the infant’s admission until discharge to home, outside facility, or death. Given caregiver repeated-measures survey data will generate an ordinal output (teaming stage: forming, storming, norming or performing), we plan to conduct a Friedman’s test to assess for progression through the teaming stages over the course of admission. Simultaneously, five providers (physicians and nurses) involved in the care of consented families will complete the Team Maturity Scale. These will be used with caregiver completed scales to perform confirmatory factor analysis.
