A Scoping Review on Factors Influencing Parental Involvement in Healthy Newborns’ Pain Management

Objectives: To identify factors influencing parents’ involvement in healthy newborns’ pain management during non-urgent minor painful procedures and investigate how these factors map to a behavioral change framework. Methods: A scoping review was conducted by searching six databases. Eligibility criteria were primary studies of any methodology and language reporting factors hindering or facilitating parents’ involvement in healthy newborns’ pain management. The Theoretical Domains Framework was used to map potential behavioral change factors. Studies were independently coded and assessed for methodological quality by two reviewers. Results: Searches returned 11,366 unique studies, with 278 studies full-text screened, resulting in 16 included studies. Facilitators included parents’ and health care providers’ knowledge, skills, positive beliefs about their capabilities and consequences of their involvement in pain management, intentions to use/advocate for analgesic strategies, social influences, and environmental context and resources available. Barriers were parents’ and health care providers’ lack of knowledge, health care providers’ lack of skills, negative beliefs about their capabilities and consequences of pain management, social influences, and inadequate environmental context and resources. Most barriers and facilitators were mapped to the environmental context and resources domain of the Theoretical Domains Framework. The methodological quality of the included studies ranged from weak to moderate-high quality. Discussion: Parents’ involvement in healthy newborns’ pain management requires support from social influences (e.g., peers), health care providers, and organizations. Investigating parents’ perspectives regarding additional factors influencing their participation in newborns’ pain management is warranted to inform interventions, with attention to environmental context and resources domain factors.