‘I Did Not Know We Could Exercise This Small Premature Baby’: Challenges Experienced by Parents While Implementing Early Intervention for Their Preterm Infants—A Qualitative Perspective

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q2 PEDIATRICS Child Care Health and Development Pub Date : 2025-02-06 DOI:10.1111/cch.70045

Manasa Kolibylu Raghupathy, Selim Jahangir, Sonia Khurana, Leslie Edward S. Lewis, Bhamini Krishna Rao

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Abstract

Background

Preterm birth is a highly stressful experience for both parents and infants. Parental participation in care enhances developmental outcomes, fosters parent–infant interactions and builds parental confidence. However, low parental adherence has always been a challenge in the successful implementation of intervention programs both in the NICU and at home. It is imperative to understand parents' perspectives and view the challenges that they experience through their lens while providing early intervention to their infants born preterm. This study is aimed at identifying new parents' challenges when implementing early intervention programs for their infants during the transition from hospital to home.

Methods

Ten parents of preterm infants trained to administer early intervention programs in the NICU and at home were recruited during their infants' 3-month follow-up. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted until data saturation. The audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed and translated into English. Thematic analysis, using ATLAS.ti Version 8.0 software, identified overarching challenges through deductive and inductive coding.

Results

Data analysis identified five recurring themes: (1) navigating early days of parenthood, (2) nurturing resilience in infant care, (3) supporting infants through informed caregiving, (4) maximizing efficiency in infant care through time mastery and (5) balancing equity and flexibility in caregiving. Parents expressed fear of handling their infants born preterm because of their low birth weight and small size. Time constraints, changing sleep patterns and daily routines make it difficult for mothers to adhere to exercise programs. Parents also face challenges when infants exhibit stressful behaviour. Furthermore, gender differences were observed, with fathers often not continuing the program at home.

Conclusions

The study highlights parents' main challenges when providing early intervention for infants born preterm at home. It emphasizes issues related to maternal roles, family support and difficulties in infant handling, exercise and time management.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: CTRI/2020/09/027994.

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来源期刊

Child Care Health and Development 医学-小儿科

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

5.30%

发文量

136

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Child: care, health and development is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes papers dealing with all aspects of the health and development of children and young people. We aim to attract quantitative and qualitative research papers relevant to people from all disciplines working in child health. We welcome studies which examine the effects of social and environmental factors on health and development as well as those dealing with clinical issues, the organization of services and health policy. We particularly encourage the submission of studies related to those who are disadvantaged by physical, developmental, emotional and social problems. The journal also aims to collate important research findings and to provide a forum for discussion of global child health issues.