Experiences and coping strategies of preterm infants' parents and parental competences after early physiotherapy intervention: qualitative study

Birth before term is a stressful experience for parents because of the unexpected delivery or admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. This research aimed to evaluate the impact of the early PT intervention on preterm infants' parents' experiences, and also to obtain knowledge about...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiotherapy theory and practice 2022-09, Vol.38 (9), p.1-1187
Main Authors: Ochandorena-Acha, Mirari, Noell-Boix, Rosa, Yildirim, Meltem, Cazorla-Sánchez, Maria, Iriondo-Sanz, Martín, Troyano-Martos, Maria José, Casas-Baroy, Joan Carles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Content analysis
Coping strategies
Early intervention
Fathers
Infants
Intensive care
Interviews
Mothers
Neonatal units
Newborn babies
Parents & parenting
Phenomenology
Physical therapy
Physiotherapy
Premature babies
Qualitative research
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Summary:Birth before term is a stressful experience for parents because of the unexpected delivery or admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. This research aimed to evaluate the impact of the early PT intervention on preterm infants' parents' experiences, and also to obtain knowledge about parents' experiences and perceived difficulties during preterm infants' care. This qualitative study is based on the methods of phenomenology. In the first phase, open interviews were developed to allow researchers to immerse themselves in the context of the study and refine the questions for the semi-structured interviews. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The results were summarized around three themes: 1) parental competence; 2) difficulties during preterm infants' care; and 3) coping strategies. Each theme was divided into two sub-themes. Mothers and fathers of preterm infants experienced difficulties when caring for their babies. Parents that received the early physiotherapy intervention felt empowered to take care of their babies and to enhance infants' development. These parents were more capable of developing coping strategies after the intervention. Parents that did not receive the early physiotherapy intervention expressed difficulties when caring for their preterm babies.
ISSN:0959-3985
1532-5040
DOI:10.1080/09593985.2020.1818339