Introduction: Care is considered as a multi-dimensional concept in nursing. The experiences of parents whose infants are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) is very stressful and one of the responsibilities of nurses is to support and care for parents. Therefore, understanding of care priorities from the views of such parents can be highly important for improving the performance of ICU nurses. This study aimed to determine and compare care priorities from the viewpoints of parents whose infants were admitted to neonatal ICUs. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted about nursing care priorities on 133 parents of newborns admitted to neonatal ICUs (NICUs) of selected hospitals (Imam Hossein, Taleghani, Mahdieh and Shahada) affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected through a "Caring Behavior Inventory" and analyzed by SPSS 20 software. Findings: Results revealed that the highest score was related to the average dimension of "attentiveness to the other's experiences" (3.94), while the dimension of "positive connectedness" attained the lowermost score (3.53). Mothers also assigned the highest and lowest scores to "attentiveness to the other's experiences" (3.89) and "positive connectedness" (3.53) dimensions, respectively. Independent t-test revealed no significant differences between mean scores of fathers and mothers about nurses' caring behaviors and their dimensions (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Considering that fathers and mothers (both parents) assigned the highest and lowest scores to "attentiveness to the other’s experiences" and "positive connectedness", respectively, it seems that nurses should have a good empathy and treatment at first patient encounter while it is also necessary to consider the emotional and communicational aspects of care during hospitalization.
