Parental knowledge of developmentally supportive care upon entry into early intervention

Date

2011-05-30

Authors

Polder, Julianna

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Abstract

This study describes and explores the level of knowledge that primary caregivers have regarding developmentally supportive care and related strategies upon entry into early intervention as well as their use of strategies with other factors such as training received in the hospital, parents' ages, and time parents spent visiting their children in the hospital. Four parents completed a survey developed to assess knowledge and use of strategies. Data were analyzed by searching for patterns among parents. Parents knew more about calm behavior state cues, and the least about stressed physiological cues. Parents with more knowledge used more developmental strategies. Focused training from the NICU, number of days per week and hours per day visiting the NICU, and parents' ages and educational levels are discussed as factors related to levels of knowledge and use of strategies. Discussion also includes issues related to knowledge of early intervention therapists in developmentally supportive care as well as appropriate training for parents of newly discharged infants.

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Keywords

Health and environmental sciences, Early intervention, Primary caregivers, Developmental support

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