OBJECTIVES To identify opportunities for improvement in quality of care, we explore Black families' experiences of family support in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during their infant's hospital stay. METHODS Semistructured qualitative interviews or focus groups (FGs) were conducted to explore Black families' experiences of NICU hospitalization. Inclusion criteria were self-identification as a Black family member and infant admission to our NICU between January 2020 and February 2022. We conducted reflexive thematic analysis of recorded transcripts using Dedoose software. RESULTS Three interviews and 2 FGs were conducted with 9 unique families (n = 13 individuals). We organized 10 key themes into "Experiences" and "Recommendations." Experience themes included distrust and fear of the medical setting, hypervigilance and trauma trajectory formation, the myth of "Black hardiness," policing and surveillance, and undermining of Black parenting. Recommendation themes implored NICU staff to earn rather than assume trust, respect family concerns, improve mental health support, provide compassionate care, and support the parenting role. CONCLUSIONS In this single-center qualitative study of Black families' NICU encounters, families continue to experience differential treatment, which reinforces an untrustworthy medical system perpetuating structural racism. Family recommendations for improving care through transparent communication, advocacy and mental health support, increased engagement in their parental role, and decreasing biased treatment and provision of resources may improve their experience and mitigate hypervigilance and trajectory formation in our NICU.

中文翻译：

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新生儿重症监护病房黑人家庭的需求和经历。


目的 为了确定提高护理质量的机会，我们探讨了黑人家庭在婴儿住院期间在新生儿重症监护病房 （NICU） 获得家庭支持的经历。方法 进行半结构化定性访谈或焦点小组 （FGs） 以探讨黑人家庭的 NICU 住院经历。纳入标准是在 2020 年 1 月至 2022 年 2 月期间自我认定为黑人家庭成员和婴儿入住我们的 NICU。我们使用 Dedoose 软件对记录的成绩单进行了反思性主题分析。结果 对 9 个独特的家系 （n = 13 个体） 进行了 3 次访谈和 2 次 FG。我们将 10 个关键主题分为“体验”和“建议”。体验主题包括对医疗环境的不信任和恐惧、高度警惕和创伤轨迹形成、“黑人坚韧”的神话、警务和监视以及破坏黑人养育子女。推荐主题恳请 NICU 工作人员赢得信任而不是假设信任，尊重家庭关注，改善心理健康支持，提供富有同情心的护理，并支持育儿角色。结论 在这项针对黑人家庭 NICU 遭遇的单中心定性研究中，家庭继续经历差别待遇，这强化了不可信的医疗系统，使结构性种族主义永久化。通过透明的沟通、宣传和心理健康支持来改善护理的家庭建议，增加对父母角色的参与，以及减少有偏见的治疗和资源提供，可能会改善他们的体验并减轻我们 NICU 中的过度警觉和轨迹形成。