Purpose: Mothers of infants hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) need to be recognized
as essential partners of the care team as their presence and involvement are key to infants' health and
developmental outcomes. Addressing mothers' perceived needs is beneficial for the improvement of
supportive nursing care; however, little qualitative research on their unmet needs has been conducted in
South Korea. This study assessed mothers' perspectives on their NICU experiences and their unmet needs
within the South Korean cultural context.
Method: A cross-sectional, multicentered, secondary analysis study was conducted using the written
responses to an open-ended questionnaire. Of the 344 NICU-experienced mothers, 232 throughout South
Korea (seven cities and five provinces) voluntarily completed the questionnaire via smartphone-based or
web-based surveys. Their narrative responses were analyzed using thematic content analysis guided by
the critical incident technique.
Results: Four themes emerged. NICU-experienced mothers of preterm infants referred to the “familyfriendly
environment” (16.4%) as a positive experience. The greatest unmet need was “relationship-based
support” (58.2%), followed by “information and education-based support” (20.0%) and “system-level
challenges” (5.4%).
Conclusion: The importance of creating a family-friendly NICU environment should be emphasized by
ensuring 24-hour unrestricted access and encouraging active parental involvement in infant care, as well
as actively supporting NICU families through supportive words and actions. The assurance of antiinfection
management and better staffing levels should be fundamentally guaranteed to NICU staff.