Knowledge of mothers and fathers’ experiences of the early in-home care of premature infants supported by video consultations with a neonatal nurse

AIM: To gain in-depth knowledge of mothers’ and fathers’ experiences of the whole trajectory of an early in-home care programme supported by video consultations with a neonatal nurse. DESIGN: A qualitative interview study. METHODS: Data were collected through dyadic semi-structured interviews with mothers and fathers participating in virtual early in-home care programmes and were subjected to inductive content analysis. FINDINGS: The mothers and fathers were anxious about mastering the care of their premature infants at the start of the early in-home care phase but gradually developed confidence by the completion of the early in-home care programme. Being at home during the early in-home care programme gave the mothers and fathers an opportunity to test their decision making concerning the care of the infant while having the ability to obtain support from nurses when needed. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the trajectory of early in-home care programmes combined with video consultations contributes to parents’ increased confidence as mothers and fathers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trial registration: REG-113-2014 and SJ-431. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-021-00572-9.