Mindfulness and Acceptance in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Trauma-informed Approach

Preterm labor or other medical conditions resulting in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission has an immense potential to be a traumatic event for both parents and their babies. Birth trauma in the context of the NICU may lead to a heightened stress response, decreasing one’s ability to cope with those stressors. This experience may have long-lasting effects for both parents and infants, necessitating a better understanding of interventions that can be offered during NICU admission and beyond to address trauma responses from both a physical and psychological perspective. The positive effects of mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions have the potential to help alleviate stress and anxiety and improve safety, connectedness, and bonding with lasting effects beyond the NICU. This research project aims to discuss the stressors of preterm birth or other medical conditions resulting in NICU admission and to explore mindfulness and acceptance interventions that have been studied in the NICU. This project also hopes to address the opportunity to further fill the gaps within the research of mindfulness and acceptance interventions in the context of the NICU, especially from a trauma-informed perspective. Implications of this project are relevant for both medical and mental health providers treating NICU parents and infants.