Understanding The Couplet Care Environmental Model And Its Effect On Bonding Between Mother And Infant

Abstract

Couplet Care is an emerging model of care in neonatology where the strategy is to deliver intensive care to newborns and their postpartum mothers in a shared room. The evaluation of these environments for high-risk newborns through post-occupancy evaluations is essential for evidence-based design. However, there is little evidence available that demonstrates outcomes with couplet care. The Neonatal Experience Evaluation Toolkit used in this study was developed at Yale New Haven Hospital. It is an approach that measures the effect of exposure to couplet care on maternal-infant bonding during hospitalization. In this prospective cohort study, Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana served as the data collection site. Participants (n=19) showed high satisfaction with care during the immediate postpartum period. Built environment characteristics at the room and unit levels emerged as factors impacting behavioral outcomes. Improvements in future iterations of couplet care are highlighted through design, operational policy, and technology recommendations.