2021 Vol. 14 No. 1

NIDCAP Federation  
International (NFI)

Founded in 2001, the NFI is an  
international, non-profit membership 
organization. The NFI encourages highly 
attuned implementation of the Newborn 
Individualized Developmental Care 
and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) 
for all intensive, special care and 
newborn nurseries around the world. 
The NFI serves as the authoritative 
leader for research, development, and 
dissemination of NIDCAP, and for the 
certification of trainers, healthcare 
professionals, and nurseries in the 
NIDCAP approach.

Developmental 
  Observer
The Official Newsletter of the NIDCAP® Federation International

“All things are bound together. 
All things connect.”

Chief Seattle 
Suquamish and Duwamish First Nation Chief

Greetings from the Editor 
Welcome to our first issue for 2021. Let us hope that this  
year will be kinder, and we may start to move forward and 
heal together. Looking back on 2020 several themes have 
emerged from the impact of the Pandemic. 

First, during the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions the 
strength of families and staff are demonstrated through  
several abstracts from the 31st NIDCAP Trainers Meet-
ing. The group from Modena showed if staff feel offering 
kangaroo care is safe then parents become involved with less 
stress. The team from Beirut revealed that despite restric-
tions of COVID-19 kangaroo sessions can increase. The group 
from Rimini nicely demonstrated that if staff are supported, 
they in turn support parents to be involved in their baby’s care. 
The second theme focussed on how we strive to improve what we do. The Graven’s 
group presented the important Standards for Infant and Family Developmental Care to 
guide our practice, and we heard about how the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) quality cycle 
can be used to change practice by Inga Warren and her team.

Lindsay Gilmore, a mother, in her insightful article Heartbreak and Hope during the  
Pandemic gives us an understanding of the stress families experience. We learn about the 
success of innovation through the Little Readers Read-a-Thon from Therese Gisondi. And 
Julia Giesen returns with another perceptive poem in Poets Corner. 

Despite the challenges we have all encountered this past year, The UK NIDCAP Centre 
demonstrates how COVID-19 impacted on the work of their Centre and how they adapted 
to ensure their goals were met. 
Inga Warren, Senior NIDCAP 
Trainer received a Commander 
of the British Empire (CBE) in 
recognition of her work with 
premature infants and training. 
We learn about the amazing work 
in Serbia in giving NIDCAP and 
developmental care a focus. We 
can learn from these interesting 
articles and the innovative ways 
we all strive to improve the care 
and experiences of the babies and 
their families.

Kaye Spence AM
Senior Editor – Developmental 
Observer 
Adjunct Associate Professor/ 
Clinical Nurse Consultant 
Australasian NIDCAP Training 
Centre / Sydney Children’s 
Hospitals Network / Western 
Sydney University/Australia

Table of Contents

Editorial  ...................................................... 1 

Abstracts  .................................................... 2

Little Readers Read-A-Thon .................. 10

Global Perspectives ............................... 12

Family Voices  .......................................... 14

NIDCAP Training Centers Around the 
World  ........................................................ 18

Poet's Corner  .......................................... 20

NIDCAP on the Web  ................................ 22 

ISSN: 2689-2650 (online)
DO 14:1 full issue DOI: 10.14434/do.v14i1.31806

ABSTRACT EDITION

Kaye Spence, AM

DOI: 10.14434/do.v14i1.31807

NIDCAP Care in the Moment

Connecting through challenges