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Abstract
Forty‐six mothers with infants in an urban hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were asked to rate the importance of having various needs met in five categories: (1) support (the need for interpersonal emotional support); (2) comfort (the need for personal physical comfort); (3) information (the need to obtain realistic information about the infant); (4) proximity (the need to remain near the infant); and (5) assurance (the need to feel confident about the infant's outcome). Overall, mothers viewed needs in the area of assurance as most important and needs in the area of support as least important to have fulfilled. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant predictive relationships between annual household income and mothers' needs in the area of support, and infant length of stay in the NICU and mothers' information needs. The findings from this study can be used by professionals when interacting with families, as well as during the design and implementation of parent support programs in the NICU.