Intervention programs for parents with premature infants. A critical review

After some introductory remarks on the influence of psychosocial risk factors on the developmental outcome of premature infants this review summarizes the current knowledge about intervention programs for prematures and their parents with a special focus on parent-centered programs. Positive effects of intervention programs are found in an improvement of cognitive development, parental sensitivity and the home environment. Only parent-centered interventions enhanced the quality of parent-infant interaction. It is questioned if those effects are also reliable for very premature infants and are found in the long term. Further programs should focus on parent- and parent-infant centered interventions. Methodological problems of intervention studies and further research perspectives on parent-centered interventions are discussed.