The Influence of a Multisensory Intervention for Preterm Infants Provided by Parents, on Developmental Abilities and on Parental Stress Levels

Evaluation of a multisensory intervention based on the developmental approach provided by parents, during neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization of their preterm infants. After guidance of parents and implementation of intervention program, children were followed up to 2 to 3 years using scales for evaluation of parental stress levels and child's development. Our 2 to 3 years' follow-up study included 41 infants (20 controls and 21 who received parental-guided intervention) as part of a group of 95 preterm infants who participated in a short-term study. The intervention group showed significantly higher scores in receptive language and fine-motor domains of the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development-3rd Edition. Boys showed superior improvements in language skills. No differences were found in the cognitive and adaptive domains. There were no differences in parental stress levels. A multisensory intervention program for preterm infants provided by trained and supervised parents may improve language and motor outcomes at 2 to 3 years.