Objectives : Traditionally, Japanese neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) have avoided involving parents in infant pain care out of consideration for the feelings of the parents. Therefore, we surveyed mothers' perceptions of their infant's pain experience and their involvement in the child's pain care.
Methods : An anonymous structured questionnaire (including comment fields) was sent by mail to 173 mothers whose infants had been admitted to an NICU, transferred to a growing care unit (GCU), and scheduled for discharge from the hospital. The questions asked concerned the background of the respondent's infant, their infant's pain experience, and their involvement in infant pain care. All data were descriptively analyzed.
Result : In total, 101 valid responses were received. Eighty percent of the respondents thought that their infant had experienced pain. Many of the respondents wished to have skills in pain assessment and relief, and wanted medical or nursing care to be carried out using the most up-to-date knowledge about neonatal pain. Seventy-eight percent of respondents wished to be with their infant during painful procedures to provide pain relief, share the pain experience, understand the process of the painful procedure, and develop a relationship with medical staff (they wanted to help medical staff during the painful procedure). The reasons "not to attend" were agitation and the relationship with medical staff (they entrusted the painful procedure to the medical staff; they obeyed the rules).
Conclusion : It is necessary that medical staff individually support mothers using the most up-to-date knowledge, and practice based on neonatal pain guidelines in order to push forward with parents' involvement in infant pain care in the NICUs.