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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1380826
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Implications of Preterm Birth View all 4 articles

Early Psychosocial Parent-Infant Interventions and Parent-Infant Relationships After Preterm Birth-A Scoping Review

Provisionally accepted
Marika Leppänen Marika Leppänen 1,2*Riikka Korja Riikka Korja 1Päivi Rautava Päivi Rautava 1,2Sari Ahlqvist-Björkroth Sari Ahlqvist-Björkroth 2
  • 1 University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  • 2 Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Early psychosocial interventions for preterm infants and their parents are diverse. This study aimed to structure the knowledge on psychosocial parent–infant interventions and to identify gaps in the intervention studies. Methods: We included studies on early (during first year of life) psychosocial parent–infant interventions with parent–infant relationship outcomes after preterm birth (< 37 weeks). We excluded studies that did not focus on preterm infants, failed to indicate the studied intervention and outcomes, were not written in English, were not controlled or peer-reviewed studies, or did not provide essential information for eligibility. The search included studies published between January 2000 and March 2024 in PubMed and PsycINFO. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed in reporting. Psychosocial parent–infant intervention studies were classified adapting the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR). Results: The included 22 studies reported data from 18 different interventions with preterm infants (< 37 weeks). Studies excluded preterm infants with health risks (19/22, 86%), with very low gestational age and/or birth weight (7/22, 32%), and/or mothers with psychosocial risks (14/22, 64%). Of the 18 interventions, 12 (67%) were classified as counseling, 3 (17%) as emotional support, 2 (11%) as psychotherapeutic, and 1 (6%) as educational. The parent–child relationship was assessed using 30 different methods and varying time points up to 18 months of age. Most studies (17/22, 77%) reported positive changes in the parent–child relationship favoring the intervention group. Conclusions: We identified four types of interventions to influence parenting behavior; the most used was counseling. All four intervention types showed positive effects on parent–infant relationships, although the preterm populations studied were selective, the effects were evaluated using different methods, and the follow-up periods were short. These findings indicate a need for studies with standardized methods, longer follow-up, and less-restricted preterm populations to develop guidelines for all families with preterm infants.

    Keywords: preterm born infant, Psychosocial intervention, Parent-infant relationship, parent-infant interaction, Parenting a child with disabilities

    Received: 02 Feb 2024; Accepted: 19 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Leppänen, Korja, Rautava and Ahlqvist-Björkroth. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Marika Leppänen, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

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