'Chatting': an important clinical tool in facilitating mothering in neonatal nurseries

Aim. This paper explores the use of 'chat' or 'social talk' as an important clinical tool that can assist nurses achieve family-centred care in neonat al nurseries. Background. The study was undertaken to increase knowledge of women's experiences of mothering in the neonatal nursery and the relations hip they share with nurses. Method. The discussion presented is elicited from a grounded theory analysi s of over 60 hours of interview data with 28 women, a thematic analysis of 50 hours of interviews with 20 nurses and a content analysis of 398 tape-re corded interactions between nurses and parents. Findings. The analysis identifies the importance of the nurse-mother relati onship and demonstrates that it is both the context and method by which nur sing care is delivered. We found the verbal exchanges that take place betwe en nurse and mother influence a woman's confidence, her sense of control an d her feelings of connection to her infant. It appears from the data that t he nurse's ability to effectively 'engage' the mother is dependent on the u se of language that expresses care, support and interest in parents. Conclusions. The data suggests that 'chatting' is the strategy and the proc ess through which positive interactions are initiated, maintained and enhan ced. This study confirms that nurses' language acts as a powerful clinical tool that can be used to assist parents in gaining confidence in caring for their infants and in becoming 'connected' to infants resident in nurseries .