In the light of Women’s Month, we are proud of one of our own frontierswomen who is being recognised internationally for her groundbreaking work in the rainbow nation. Prof Welma Lubbe, professor in the School of Nursing Science at the North-West University (NWU), was recently approached by the Developmental Observer, the official newsletter of the NIDCAP Federation International, about her work in neurodevelopmental supportive care for premature babies.

Neurodevelopmental supportive care (NDSC) is a widely known but fragmentally implemented care model in the South African context. Over the past two decades, a variety of researchers from different disciplines have conducted studies on various components of NDSC, and in her article in the Developmental Observer Prof Lubbe provided an overview of the development and adoption of NDSC in the South African context.

While working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Prof Lubbe realised that they as hospital staff take on the “ownership” of the babies in their care, and parents are not empowered for their parenting role. During 2003, she explored parents’ needs while their babies were admitted to the NICU in South Africa, with the aim of developing an early intervention programme to restore the parenting role to parents while their babies are admitted to the NICU.

“After completing my master’s degree, I developed the first South African evidence-based website for parents with preterm infants in the NICU: www.littlesteps.co.za. The idea was that we can provide an information platform where information can be updated quickly,” Prof Lubbe shares in the article.

“I believe that parents in every hospital should have access to information about their premmie’s development and care in a structured format, therefore training more presenters of the parenting workshop seemed like a solution,” she wrote in the article.

In an endeavour to place the most user-friendly resources at parents’ disposal, Prof Lubbe published the full-colour illustrated book, Prematurity – Adjusting your dream, that parents could access easily and use while spending time in the NICU with their baby. “It has since proven to be a valuable resource for parents and professionals working with premmies and I have received feedback that it really carried parents through their NICU journey – feedback for which I am very thankful. The second edition of the book is currently in pre-print format and should be available during 2021.”

For parents in the South African context there are some Facebook peer support groups available such as Neonatal Buddies, LittleLittlePrem, Parents of premature babies – Cape Town, to name a few. In addition, there is the Little Steps Online Parenting Workshop as well as in-person premmie parenting workshops in selected hospitals.

According to Prof Lubbe, “the implementation of NDSC in a country such as South Africa that is so diverse in terms of resources and location is a challenging undertaking. However, with healthcare professionals having the best interests of these tiny patients and their parents at heart, unexpected and impactful change can be seen across the country.”

We are extremely proud to have her on our team and grateful that she keeps on striving to share her expertise and resources in order to improve the lives of premmies and their parents.

Prof Welma Lubbe