Association between self-perceived nursing informatics competency and nurses’ perceptions of current family-centered care practices in neonatal intensive care units in the West Bank: A cross-sectional study
Ahmad AyedIntroduction
The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a highly specialized setting in which clinical care and family-centered care (FCC) are both important for neonatal and family outcomes. This study aimed to examine the association between self-perceived nursing informatics competency and nurses’ perceptions of current FCC practices in NICUs in the West Bank.
Methods
A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was used, involving 206 nurses recruited by convenience sampling from 11 NICUs in the West Bank between 1 January and 1 March 2026. Data were collected using the Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies Scale (SANICS) and the current-practice component of the Family-Centered Care Questionnaire-Revised (FCCQ-R).
Results
Nurses reported moderate self-perceived informatics competency (M = 3.1 ± 0.2) and a mean FCCQ-R current-practice score of 2.5 ± 0.5 on the theoretical 1–5 response scale. SANICS was strongly correlated with FCCQ-R current-practice scores (r = 0.722, p < .001). In the adjusted model, SANICS remained positively associated with FCC (B = 1.062, HC3 SE = 0.059, 95% CI 0.946 to 1.178, p < .001), whereas workload remained negatively associated (B = -0.131, HC3 SE = 0.019, 95% CI -0.170 to -0.093, p < .001). The model explained 70.1% of the variance (R 2 = 0.701).
Conclusion
Self-perceived nursing informatics competency was strongly associated with nurses’ perceptions of current FCC practices, and higher workload was associated with lower FCCQ-R scores. Because the study was cross-sectional, self-reported, and could not account for NICU-level clustering in the supplied analytic file, these findings are associational and should not be interpreted as evidence that improving informatics competency will cause better FCC. Longitudinal and interventional studies with unit-level data are needed.