Stockholm Preterm Interaction-Based Intervention

Overview

Extreme premature Children will at discharge from Karolinska Hospital and Södersjukhuset in Stockholm be asked to participate in a study, examining the effects of a home-visit based post-discharge program aiming at facilitating the interaction between infants and parents, improving the development of the children, and the parental mental health. The study is a randomized controlled Trial (RCT), hence 50% of the participants will be offered treatment as usual (TAU) with addition of an extended follow-up program. The interaction-based program consists of one initial visit at the hospital followed by nine home-visits and two telephone calls during the child's first year of life. The interventionists are skilled Healthcare professionals with several years of experience from caring for premature infants and their parents. All interventionists have successfully completed a one year further education program, delivered one day per week and containing theoretical lectures, practice with actual cases, supervision on the cases, visits to the different parts of the neonatal care chain and discussions with a representative from the premature family association Sweden.

Detailed description of the intervention: the purpose of the initial visit at the neonatal unit or hospital ward where the child is still treated is to establish the foundation for the interventionist/family relationship and give the parent(-s) the opportunity to show the interventionist the environment where the infant has spent his/her first 3-5 months in life. Home-visit 1-3 and two telephone calls are provided before the child is three months corrected age. The focus of these home visits is to observe child and parent at home and validate the child's strengths and competences as well as enhancing the parent-child interaction, building on strengths. The child's strengths and interests will be summarized in a logbook owned by the parents. During home-visit 4-8 the interventionist, step by step and always with great regard to the child's level of development, will support the parent in using the home-environment in a developmental supporting manner for the child, find suitable objects/toys at home for the child to examine with mouth, hands and body, confirm the child's abilities and give suggestions on how to stimulate the child's further development. The logbook will now also contain suggestions for supporting the next developmental step, which will be formulated by the interventionist together with the parent. The ninth and last home-visit will emphasize the child's progress during the past year, look through the family logbook and both summarize the past year and talk about the next developmental step for the future. The intervention group receives the standard follow-up program just as the control group and will be referred to specialized care when needed. Compared to children not participating in the study, the study participants will receive an extended follow-up program, with assessment and questionnaires at term age, 3 months corrected age, 12 months corrected age, 24 months corrected age and 36 months corrected age. The research process and the study protocol have been published, see references below.