Exploring what life is like for families when their baby is in hospital care
This co-production study in rural and urban Mexico aims to generate evidence to support the future development, design and scalability of infant and family development programmes.
The project runs from August 2024 to July 2026 and is funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.
Background
In 2020, around 13.4 million babies – up to 16% of all births – were born prematurely. This meant that they needed urgent care in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), sometimes for weeks or months.
Being born early affects a baby’s chances of survival and long-term health. Having a baby in the NICU impacts families’ dynamics, creates stress and disrupts their stability and wellbeing.
Methodology
We will combine:
- digital diaries
- semi-structured interviews, and
- mapping of resources (welfare programmes and initiatives to support families of preterm babies).
This qualitative research seeks to:
- scrutinise the experiences of families in Mexico from disadvantaged backgrounds during the admission to the NICU of their preterm babies, and
- uncover the multidimensional challenges experienced by parents of providing responsive caregiving to newborn babies in neonatal intensive care units.
Research questions
- What are the wellbeing experiences of families (mother, father or partner, and siblings) with a premature baby admitted into the NICU in two children’s hospitals in Mexico?
- How do families, from disadvantaged backgrounds, experience and respond when their premature baby is admitted into a neonatal intensive care unit?
- What are the underpinning social, cultural, political and economic challenges, experienced by parents, when providing responsive caregiving to newborn babies in neonatal intensive care units?
- What resources (policies, welfare programmes, non-governmental initiatives) are available to parents in Mexico that support their wellbeing in this critical time and facilitate the responsive caregiving of preterm newborn babies?
Participants
Participants will be families/households with a newborn admitted to a NICU in a children’s hospital in Puebla or Tlaxcala cities in Mexico. Mothers, fathers and siblings aged 10 and older (with the permission of their parents) are invited to participate.
Aims
This project is central to the aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. SDG3 seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all ages. Neonatal care is a critical aspect of SDG3. It focuses on reducing neonatal mortality and improving the health and wellbeing of newborn babies.
We will map existing resources available to parents in Mexico that:
- support their wellbeing in this critical time, and
- facilitate the responsive caregiving of very sick or very preterm newborn babies.
We will also explore wellbeing experiences of families in Mexico, across income groups and types of access to public health, during the admission to the NICU of their preterm babies. Through this, we will generate evidence to support the future development, design and scalability of infant and family development programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and similar low-resource settings.
Our research speaks directly to Mexico's ongoing policy commitment to the health and wellbeing of newborn babies (e.g. Comprehensive Newborn Care Program) and equivalent initiatives in other LMICs.
Neonatal Wellbeing Network
This is a project of the Neonatal Wellbeing Network. The network was established in Puebla, Mexico in 2023, supported by the UCL Global Engagement Funds programme. We are a multidisciplinary group aimed at promoting the wellbeing of premature and/or sick newborns and their families in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) in Mexico. This will be achieved through the co-production of knowledge.
The network is formed by:
- academics
- healthcare professionals
- parents
- caregivers, and
- citizens.
The network shares knowledge, experiences and reflections. We work on equal terms to identify, design, implement and evaluate best practices. These practices will promote newborn care which is delivered with:
- skill
- compassion, and
- respect for children's rights.
This care will support early child development in public health institutions in Mexico and similar LMIC contexts.
Related projects
Team
Principal investigator
- Dr Rosa Mendizabal (UCL)
Co-investigators
- Dr Viviana Ramírez (UDLAP)
- Dr Sonia Hernández (IBERO)
Advisory group
- Claudia Arámburo, parent representative, President of the non-for-profit organisation Altruist Donors from Puebla (Donadores Altruistas de Puebla A.C.)
- Dr Juan Domingo Porras, President of the Mexican College of Paediatric Surgery (Colegio Mexicano de Cirugía Pediátrica)
- Dr Miriam Quintanar, President of the Mexican Neonatal Nurses Association AMNE (Asociación Mexicana Neonatal de Enfermeras, México)
- Dr Elvia Patricia Concha González, Neonatologist at Puebla’s Children’s Hospital, Mexico
- Dr Aracely Juárez Astorga, Neonatologist at Tlaxcala’s Children’s Hospital, Mexico
- Dr Myriam de Luna, member of the non-for-profit organisation Nacer Temprano… Vivir en Grande which supports families of preterm babies in Mexico
- Dr. Mariana Colmenares, Association of Certified Breastfeeding Consultants ACCLAM (Asociación de Consultores Certificados en Lactancia Materna A.C.)
- Vania Lara, Researcher at the Institute for Development with Equity Mexico (Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo con Equidad EQUIDE)
- Bianca Franco, Researcher at the Institute for Development with Equity (Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo con Equidad EQUIDE)
- Dr Kelly Dickson, Social Research Institute, UCL
- Dr Mukdarut Bangpan, Social Research Institute, UCL
Related links
Contact us
UCL Social Research Institute
University College London
27 Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AA
