Parental Satisfaction at Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Public Hospitals of Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia, 2024

Background: The magnitude of parental stress or depression increases when a newborn faces different health problems after delivery and is admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Therefore, it is necessary to know which care has greater weight and importance to the patients’ parent in order to find ways to improve service quality. Nevertheless, little is known about parents’ satisfaction at NICU. The aim of this study is to assess parental satisfaction and associated factors in neonatal intensive care units at public hospitals of the Sidama region, Ethiopia, 2024. Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted. A sample of 446 parents of the neonates were enrolled in the study using a multistage sampling technique. The study was done among nine selected governmental hospitals of the Sidama region, Ethiopia. The data were collected using KoBo toolbox. Binary logistic regression analysis was employed to find factors associated with dependent variables. Results: Magnitude of overall parental satisfaction was found to be 55.8% (95% CI: 51.2%, 60.4%). Parental age of below 25 years (AOR = 0.41, 95% CI: (0.22, 0.78)), male parent (AOR = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.67, 4.88), low birth weight (AOR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.54), above seven days of hospital stay (AOR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.95)), parental involvement in the decision-making process on the care of the baby at NICUs (AOR = 4.13, 95% CI: 2.47, 6.91), and history of hospitalization (AOR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.68) were significantly associated factors of parental satisfaction. Conclusion: This study concluded a low level of parental satisfaction. Therefore, it is crucial to provide timely and gender-sensitive neonatal care while enhancing communication between parents and healthcare providers.