Division of Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town.
S Afr J Commun Disord. 2020 Jan 29;67(1):e1-e8. doi: 10.4102/sajcd.v67i1.640.
Preterm infants are at risk of communication disorders or delays, and their mothers experience various difficult emotions and realities. These communication difficulties could be effectively prevented or addressed through the provision of appropriate maternal support. Maternal perceptions regarding early communication-interaction and development in preterm population should thus be well understood by health professionals. Previous studies have focussed on parents' and patients' perceptions of medical information received from health professionals. Limited research, however, has been undertaken on maternal perceptions of early communication development in preterm infants, specifically in the South African context.
The study aims to summarise the range and the nature of available research in the fields of early communication development and intervention in preterm infants, specifically maternal perceptions thereof.
A scoping review methodology comprising five phases was used. Data were extracted from the final selection of 12 articles and analysed through quantitative and thematic techniques.
The results of the scoping review indicate that the defined research field is in a developing phase. Mothers mainly experience negative emotions and have limited knowledge regarding communication interaction with preterm infants. Furthermore, hospitalisation has been experienced as a barrier to natural communication-interaction between mother and infant.
Based on these results, it is recommended that primary research be conducted with the mothers of preterm infants to establish the most effective strategies for communication-interaction training with this vulnerable population. A further recommendation would be to increase awareness of early communication development and intervention in the preterm population amongst both parents and health professionals.
早产儿有出现沟通障碍或延迟的风险，其母亲会经历各种困难的情绪和现实。通过提供适当的母婴支持，可以有效预防或解决这些沟通问题。因此，卫生专业人员应该充分了解母亲对早产儿早期沟通互动和发展的看法。先前的研究集中在父母和患者对从卫生专业人员那里获得的医疗信息的看法上。然而，关于母亲对早产儿早期沟通发展的看法的研究有限，特别是在南非背景下。
本研究旨在总结早产儿早期沟通发展和干预领域的研究范围和性质，特别是母亲对此的看法。
使用包括五个阶段的范围综述方法。从最终选择的 12 篇文章中提取数据，并通过定量和主题技术进行分析。
范围综述的结果表明，所定义的研究领域正处于发展阶段。母亲主要经历负面情绪，对与早产儿进行沟通互动的知识有限。此外，住院治疗被认为是母婴之间自然沟通互动的障碍。
基于这些结果，建议对早产儿的母亲进行初步研究，以确定与这一脆弱群体进行沟通互动训练的最有效策略。另一个建议是提高父母和卫生专业人员对早产儿早期沟通发展和干预的认识。
