It’s been a ridiculously eventful month. It took 2.5 years, but a qualitative study on babywearing infants after a neonatal intensive care admission is completed and submitted to ProQuest who disseminates graduate research.

I’ll be presenting the results to two conferences this summer. At the International Babywearing Conference in Des Moines, IA, I’ll present my patient and staff education, and talk about the types of carriers and modifications that worked best for this particular population.

I  will co-present the research protocol and detailed results along with my professor to the International Conference of Nursing Science and Practice in London, UK in August.

The most important thing about getting this study out is to encourage more research. This qualitative study involved 15 participants and 8 interviews which is great for a qualitative study, but now we need quantitative research involving larger populations. Because there was no existing research on babywearing and premature infants I was limited on what I could study. Now it is time to quantitatively study potential links between babywearing and kangaroo care or skin-to-skin research. We need research on men and babywearing, babywearing and atypical caregivers, babywearing and special needs children, and more. Encourage your professional organizations, graduate students, healthcare facilities, and healthcare professionals with advanced degrees to pursue babywearing research!

I’m so excited to present this summer and am looking forward to seeing more research to encourage new practices in the future.