Folha de rosto - Arca - Fiocruz

Abstract
VIII
The aim of this research was to study the supportive actions taken by the social
networks during newborn hospitalization that are significant for the parents,
analyzing their structure, density and functions.
Therefore a quality oriented analysis took place in a municipal maternity
hospital, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with the parents of the
infants in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit – NICU, and included the doctors,
nurses, nursing technicians, social services assistant, psychiatrist and
psychologists. Fourteen parents and nine health professionals were interviewed.
The results obtained showed that the existent support networks already in
place, as well as those that are developed due to the hospitalization of the
newborn, bring different types of support activities for the parents. The health
professionals deal differently with these networks; those that are created within the
hospital space have more difficulties to put their methods in practice. Bearing this
in mind, the present study suggests the implementation of certain measures that
would favor the adoption of a future network perspective by the professionals, in
order to diminish the existent barriers and multiply the partnerships with these
support matrixes that are of essential importance for the staff at an environment as
stressful as that of a NICU.
Key-words: Social support networks and Newborn Intensive Care Unit