Purpose: The purpose of this integrative review is to systematically and critically synthesize nursing scholarship on parents' perspectives of the parent-child relationship during infancy.
Conclusion: Research has shown that the process of establishing the parent-child relationship is highly individualized and complex. Numerous barriers and facilitators influencing this relationship have been identified that are relevant to nursing.
Practice implications: Nurses have an important opportunity to positively affect the developing parent-infant relationship. Screening parents for depression and providing parents with resources and support are key nursing interventions supporting the parent-infant relationship.