Behavioural and cognitive outcomes following an early stress-reduction intervention for very preterm and extremely preterm infants.

Background: The landmark findings of the Mother-Infant Transaction Program (MITP) showing improved neurodevelopment of preterm infants following parent-sensitivity training delivered in the neonatal intensive care unit have not been consistently replicated. This study evaluated an MITP-type intervention in terms of neurobehavioural development to preschool age.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial involved 123 very preterm and extremely preterm infants allocated to either a parent-sensitivity intervention (PremieStart, n = 60) or to standard care (n = 63).

Early communication in preterm infants following intervention in the NICU.

Background: Despite ongoing improvements in clinical care, preterm infants experience a variety of stressors in the first weeks of life, including necessary medical procedures, which may affect development. Some stress-reduction programmes based in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) have reported a positive impact on development. In particular, trials of the Mother-Infant Transaction Program (MITP) have shown positive short and longer term effects, and are based on training parents to recognise and minimise stress responses in preterm infants.

Music therapy with hospitalized infants-the art and science of communicative musicality.

Infants seek contingent, companionable interactions with others. Infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), while receiving care that optimizes their chances of survival, often do not have the kind of interactions that are optimal for their social development. Live music therapy (MT) with infants is an intervention that aims for contingent, social interaction between therapist and infant.

Neonatal intensive care unit stress is associated with brain development in preterm infants.

Objective: Although many perinatal factors have been linked to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in very premature infants, much of the variation in outcome remains unexplained. The impact on brain development of 1 potential factor, exposure to stressors in the neonatal intensive care unit, has not yet been studied in a systematic, prospective manner.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study of infants born at <30 weeks gestation, nurses were trained in recording procedures and cares.

Parental mental health and early social-emotional development of children born very preterm.

Objective: The aims of this study were to describe the mental health of parents of children born very preterm and examine relations between parental mental health and early social-emotional development in very preterm and term born children.

Methods: Participants were 177 children born very preterm and 69 children term born and their parents. At 2 year's corrected age for the children, parental mental health was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and child social-emotional development assessed using the Infant-Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and a structured parent-child interaction paradigm.

Early sensitivity training for parents of preterm infants: impact on the developing brain.

After birth, preterm infants face a stressful environment, which may negatively impact early brain development and subsequent neurobehavioral outcomes. This randomized controlled trial involving 45 women with infants <30-wk gestation, assessed the effectiveness of training parents in reducing stressful experiences. Intervention consisted of 10 sessions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Early emergence of behavior and social-emotional problems in very preterm infants.

Objective: Children born very preterm are reported to have an increased frequency of social, emotional, and behavioral problems at school age compared with their peers born at term. The primary aim of this study was to compare social-emotional difficulties and competencies of very preterm and full-term children at 2 years' corrected age. In addition, the relation between perinatal variables and early behavior problems was also examined to help identify those very preterm children most at risk.

Effectiveness of a modified Mother-Infant Transaction Program on outcomes for preterm infants from 3 to 24 months of age.

Mothers of hospitalised preterm infants were randomised into an intervention or control condition. Intervention mothers received a modified Mother-Infant Transaction Program over seven sessions prior to infant discharge and two sessions over the next 3 months. Infant temperament, mother-infant interaction and parenting stress were assessed at 3 and 6 months and infant development was measured by parental report at 24 months.