Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2017 Feb 2;7(2):e013824.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013824.

Parental engagement and early interactions with preterm infants during the stay in the neonatal intensive care unit: protocol of a mixed-method and longitudinal study

Alberto Stefana  1 , Manuela Lavelli  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Parental engagement and early interactions with preterm infants during the stay in the neonatal intensive care unit: protocol of a mixed-method and longitudinal study

Alberto Stefana et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: The preterm infants' developmental outcomes depend on biological and environmental risk factors. The environmental factors include prolonged parental separation, less exposure to early mother/father-infant interactions and the parents' ability to respond to the trauma of premature birth. In the case of premature birth, the father's ability to take an active part in the care of the infant from the start is essential. The parents' emotional closeness to the preterm infant hospitalised in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may be crucial to the well-being of the newborn, the development of mutual regulation, the establishment of a functioning parent-infant affective relationship and the parents' confidence in their ability to provide care for their baby.

Methods and analysis: This is a mixed-method, observational and longitudinal study. The methodological strategy will include: (1) ethnographic observation in a level III NICU located in Italy for a duration of 18 months; (2) 3-minute video recordings of mother-infant and father-infant interaction in the NICU; (3) a semistructured interview with fathers during the infants' hospital stay; (4) 3-minute video recordings of mother-infant and father-infant face-to-face interaction in the laboratory at 4 months of corrected age; (5) self-report questionnaires for parents on depression and quality of the couple relationship at the approximate times of the video recording sessions.

Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee for Clinical Trials of the Verona and Rovigo Provinces. Results aim to be published in international peer-reviewed journals, and presented at relevant national and international conferences. This research project will develop research relevant to (1) the quality and modalities of maternal and paternal communication with the preterm infant in the NICU; (2) the influence of maternal/paternal social stimulation on the infant behavioural states; (3) the quality and modalities of paternal support to the partner and possible influences on mother-infant relationship.

Keywords: Early interactions; NICU; Parental engagement; Parents; Preterm infant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study timeline. CA, corrected age; PMA, postmenstrual age; wk, weeks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Doyle LW, Anderson PJ. Adult outcome of extremely preterm infants. Pediatrics 2010;126:342–51. 10.1542/peds.2010-0710 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson S, Fawke J, Hennessy E et al. . Neurodevelopmental disability through 11 years of age in children born before 26 weeks of gestation. Pediatrics 2009;124(2). 10.1542/peds.2008-3743 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Marlow N, Wolke D, Bracewell MA et al. . Neurologic and developmental disability at six years of age after extremely preterm birth. N Engl J Med 2005;352:9–19. 10.1056/NEJMoa041367 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mwaniki MK, Atieno M, Lawn JE et al. . Long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes after intrauterine and neonatal insults: a systematic review. Lancet 2012;379:445–52. 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61577-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Talge NM, Holzman C, Wang J et al. . Late-preterm birth and its association with cognitive and socioemotional outcomes at 6 years of age. Pediatrics 2010;126:1124–31. 10.1542/peds.2010-1536 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources