Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses e Educação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
J Clin Nurs. 2020 Aug;29(15-16):2886-2896. doi: 10.1111/jocn.15361. Epub 2020 Jun 16.
Empowering parents as health promoters may contribute to decrease the costs associated with prematurity. In Portugal, 8% and 1% of the births occurring in 2018 were preterm and very preterm, respectively. This study aimed to assess prematurity-related knowledge with regard to its prevalence, causes and consequences, according to sociodemographic, obstetric and offspring's characteristics, among mothers and fathers of very preterm infants.
Between May and July 2017, mothers and fathers of very preterm infants were invited to participate through the Portuguese association of parents for support to the premature baby, with 196 parents being included. Knowledge on prematurity (prevalence, causes and consequences) was collected through a structured online questionnaire. Reporting of this research follows STROBE guidelines for cross-sectional studies.
Parents estimated a median prevalence of preterm and of very preterm delivery in Portugal of 15% and 8%, respectively. However, approximately 20% did not provide an estimate. More than 90% of the participants acknowledged placental complications, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, multiple pregnancy and intrauterine growth restriction as causes of preterm delivery, whereas only 24.2% identified low socioeconomic status. Cardiac complications and respiratory morbidity were recognised as the main consequences of prematurity by more than 80% of the parents. Overall, parents with a higher socioeconomic status tended to provide correct responses more frequently than those with a low socioeconomic status.
The results revealed the existence of knowledge gaps regarding the prevalence, causes and consequences of premature delivery. Understanding the main facilitators and barriers to the achievement of prematurity-related knowledge may contribute for the global improvement of preventing this condition.
It is crucial to include the improvement of parents' knowledge about prematurity as a complementary dimension during the provision of medical care, with nurses playing a key role as main sources of information.
增强父母作为健康促进者的能力可能有助于降低与早产相关的成本。2018 年，葡萄牙分别有 8%和 1%的婴儿早产和极早产。本研究旨在评估母亲和父亲对极低出生体重儿早产相关知识（包括早产的流行率、原因和后果）的了解程度，分析其与社会人口学、产科和子女特征的关系。
2017 年 5 月至 7 月期间，通过葡萄牙早产儿父母支持协会邀请极低出生体重儿的父母参与研究，共纳入 196 名父母。通过结构化在线问卷收集关于早产的知识（流行率、原因和后果）。本研究报告遵循横断面研究的 STROBE 指南。
父母估计葡萄牙早产和极早产的中位数流行率分别为 15%和 8%。然而，约 20%的父母没有提供估计值。超过 90%的参与者认为胎盘并发症、妊娠高血压疾病、多胎妊娠和宫内生长受限是早产的原因，而只有 24.2%的人认为社会经济地位低是原因。超过 80%的父母认为心脏并发症和呼吸发病率是早产的主要后果。总的来说，社会经济地位较高的父母比社会经济地位较低的父母更倾向于给出正确的答案。
研究结果显示，父母对早产的流行率、原因和后果存在知识差距。了解实现与早产相关知识的主要促进因素和障碍可能有助于全面改善预防这种情况。
将提高父母对早产的认识作为医疗保健的一个补充维度至关重要，护士作为主要信息来源发挥着关键作用。
