Vetter issop 2018

VETTER, Verena, SCHÄFERLING, Michaela, GÄRTNER, Kim, HERTEL, Silke and REUNER, Gitta, 2018. Parent Training Programs to Promote Self-Regulation in Preterm Born Toddlers. In: ISSOP2018 - Early Childhood Intervention: Science, Systems and Policies - Promoting Healthy Development of Vulnerable Children [online]. Bonn, Germany: DGSPJ. 27 September 2018. p. 1–120. [Accessed 4 November 2018]. Available from: https://www.issop.org/cmdownloads/vetter-issop-2018/

Background: The development of self-regulation (SR) is a hallmark in early childhood. Preterm born children, however, have an increased risk for an adverse development given the immaturity of their brain, neonatal distress and parenting stress. Our study aimed at promoting SR by providing a parent training with focus on parental co-regulation (CR), namely scaffolding, sensitivity, and parent stress. Therefore, acceptance of and parents’ perceived benefit from this program were analyzed.

Method: 49 parent-child-dyads of preterm (PT) and 97 of full-term (FT) children (aged 24-36 months corrected for prematurity) were randomly assigned to three training conditions. Parents’ acceptance and perception of benefit were then assessed by a self-designed questionnaire.  Results: Parents of both groups (PT and FT) reported high acceptance for all three training conditions (measured on a scale from 1 to 6, with 1 being “highest acceptance” and 6 being “lowest acceptance”) FT: M= 1,82 / PT: M= 1,85; p > .777. Parents also reported a better support of children’s development of SR and rated the overall benefit of participating in the training programs as high.  Discussion: Based on a relatively small sample, so far, results confirm the high acceptance of parents for a group training to promote their children’s SR. Future analyses of the observation measures from our study will have to reveal evidence for a benefit on child’s SR in observational measures. A parent training, however, does seem to be a promising approach.

Authors, Institutions:

B.A. Michaela Schäferling, Clinic I, Division of Neuropediatrics and Metabolic Medicine, Centre for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany M.Sc.

Kim A. Gärtner, Institute for Education Studies, Heidelberg University

Prof. Dr. Silke Hertel, Institute for Education Studies, Heidelberg University

PD. Dr. Gitta Reuner, Clinic I, Division of Neuropediatrics and Metabolic Medicine, Centre for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany

https://www.dgspj.de/wp-content/uploads/ISSOP-2018-Abstract-Vetter.pdf