About the project
The study is done at the University of Tromsø. A randomized, controlled trial was conducted including infants with a birth weight <2000 treated at the University Hospital. The main aim of the study is to examine the effect of a mother-infant-transaction program on among other things parenting stress and the children’s social and cognitive development, as well as conduct disorders. The subjects consist of a preterm intervention group (N=72), preterm controls (N=74) and full term controls (N=75). The subjects are regularly followed and presently the 9 year follow up is ongoing. We plan a follow up at 12 years. So far the intervention seem to reduce stress in intervention families, prematurely born infants have lower level of arousal and score significantly higher on joint attention, compared to preterm controls. The intervention group also scored consistently lower on the Child Behavior Checklist /2-3 (CBCL). The intervention program also seems to lead to a more nurturant child rearing attitude in mothers of preterms.
Financial support
The Norwegian Research Council, The Norwegian Council for Mental Health, The Norwegian Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation and The Northern Norway Regional Health Authority.
Research category
Basic resarch and applied research