A Study of Maternal Competence in Preterm Birth Condition, during the Transition from Hospital to Home: An Early Intervention Program’s Proposal

Concetta Polizzi, Giovanna Perricone, Maria Regina Morales and Sofia Burgio
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Concetta Polizzi: Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (S.I.P.Ped.), Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Giovanna Perricone: Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (S.I.P.Ped.), Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Maria Regina Morales: Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (S.I.P.Ped.), Mental Health Department, ASST Sette Laghi, 21100 Varese, Italy
Sofia Burgio: Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (S.I.P.Ped.), Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-24

Abstract: The study was conducted with 104 mothers (average age 32.5 years, SD 6.1) of preterm infants (very and moderately preterm but still healthy) to monitor the perceived maternal role competence from the time of hospitalisation to post-discharge, in order to define an intervention program to support mothers during this transition. A targeted Q-Sort tool (Maternal Competence Q-Sort in preterm birth) was applied at two different times as a self-observation tool for parenting competence in neonatology. A tendency towards dysregulation of the maternal role competence was detected, mainly in terms of low self-assessment and was found to worsen during post-discharge, particularly with regard to caregiving ability. This study suggests the importance of accompanying parenting competence in preterm birth conditions, not only during hospitalisation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) but also following discharge in order to promote the development of premature infants. This paper reports in the last part a specific integrated psychoeducational intervention program (psychologist and nurses), which we defined precisely in light of the suggestions offered by the study data on perceived maternal competence created with the Q-sort.

Keywords: parental competence; early intervention program; preterm birth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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