Juggling Roles: A Study of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents and Their Work-Family Transition

Primary Investigators: Alexandrea Craft PhD

The goal of this project is to understand a significant public health concern, specifically prematurity and its disproportional impacts on Black and lower income families, and the role social determinants of health, namely work, may play in maintaining or disrupting the downstream consequences of prematurity. This study aims to determine how work factors (e.g., paid leave, work hours, schedule flexibility) are related to parents’ involvement in the NICU and to their mental health. A second goal is to evaluate whether these work factors are related to infants’ short- and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. We plan to recruit a sample of 250 NICU families. Findings from this study will elucidate barriers to parental involvement in the NICU and identify family and state/federal policy-level intervention targets to support parent NICU engagement and mitigate long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of prematurity.