Parental confidence in newborn care: scoping review
Published 2025-06-11
Keywords
- Trust,
- Parents,
- Postpartum Period,
- Newborn
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2024 Rita Martins, Maria Helena Presado, Sandra Risso
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Introduction
The birth of a child arises essential care for their development, which encompasses the transition to parenthood. This transition begins during pregnancy, but only ends when father/mother develop confidence in carrying out their roles(1). Reviewing the barriers and facilitators that contribute to parental confidence in newborn care can facilitate the diagnosis of parental needs and subsequently the planning of interventions, focused on the mother-father-newborn triad, that contribute to a positive transition from parenthood.
Objective
Map scientific evidence on barriers/facilitators to developing parental confidence in newborn care.
Methods
The revision question is: Which are the barriers and the facilitators that contribute to the parenthood trust on the newborn care. This review follows the guidelines proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)2) and searched for evidence in the MEDLINE Ultimate, CINAHL Ultimate, MedicLatina, Cochrane of Systematic Reviews, Web of Science and PUBMED databases. Studies included were published until April 2024. The following search topics have been selected: father*, mother*, parent*, self-confidence, confidence, trust, self-assessment, barrier*, obstacle*, difficult*, facilitator*, enable*, newborn and care.
Results
746 articles were identified. After applying the eligibility criteria and excluding duplicates, 15 articles were included, with 1477 participants. The extracted data were grouped into barriers and facilitators that contribute to the development of parental confidence in newborn care: technological, social, physiological, educational, professional and gender barriers/facilitators.
Conclusion
The barriers faced by mothers are better identified than those experienced by fathers. Fathers report feeling less valued and supported postpartum. Continuity of care with the same obstetric nurse, during prenatal and postnatal care, facilitates parents trust, Trust must be worked on both prenatally and postpartum, ensuring a positive transition to parenthood.