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This study examined the relationships between parents' perceptions of their family's way of functioning and their pre-term child's temperament. Forty-seven parents of infants born before the gestation age (GA) of 28 weeks during 1991, 1994 and 1997 answered the Family Relations Scale (FARS) and the Temperament Scale. One family function factor, enmeshment, was significantly higher in families with pre-term children than in other families, thus indicating certain difficulties in the inner life of the family (p < 0.001). Parents' perceptions of their pre-term child's temperament did not differ from those of other parents. There was a strong correlation both between temperament dimensions and the family's way of functioning (p < 0.0001) and between single-dimension impulsivity and the total scores for the family's way of functioning (p < 0.01). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The birth of a preterm child is a trauma that causes crisis reactions in parents. The hypothesis was that parents need psycho-social support in order to manage this trauma. Psycho-social support was defined as both medical and social information, processing the emotional feelings, social support and starting the bonding process. The aim of the study was to explore the type and frequency of psycho-social support to parents of preterm children born during 1991, 1994 and 1997 in a Swedish university hospital. 47 parents answered a questionnaire based on previous focus group interviews. The children were born in gestation weeks 23-7. Medical and social information was more frequent during the first period of intensive care than later on during the care process. Contact frequency concerning feelings and emotional reactions was low and decreased over time. All parents were helped to start the bonding process. One-third of the parents reported long-term psychological problems due to the birth of the preterm child, while only a few reported financial (15%), practical (13%) or social (9%) long-term problems. Conclusions were that from a crisis theory perspective psycho-social support, defined as regular medical information also ought to be initiated later on in the care process and that increased emotional support concerning crisis reactions is desirable in order to process the feelings raised by the trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional reactions of parents after the birth of an extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant were followed during the early period of hospital care. Ten pairs of parents participated. The process concerning feelings of sadness, anger, fear/anxiety and joy was measured by Single Systems Design (SSD). The infants were born in gestation weeks 23-27. The emotional reactions of the mothers and fathers did not differ significantly. There was emotional confusion during the first weeks of parenthood, then the negative feelings decreased and joy increased. But at the end of a long period of care, the negative feelings reappeared. It is important to be aware that the first weeks after birth can be marked by emotional confusion and that negative feelings can return when the infant's medical status has been brought under control. The latter might be explained emotionally as a delayed crisis reaction.

The parents of eight children who had died of malignant diseases were interviewed about their experiences concerning the medical and social care of the children. There was a great need for repeated and thorough information about the disease and the therapy to all in the family. The risk of isolation of the family could be diminished by active measures. There was a great need for continuity with only a few key people involved in the care. It proved important to recognize at an early stage the economical and social problems of the family and to help the family to solve them.