Zeng Chengxi, Ji Jianlin, Yang Hanlin, Yang Liling, Jiang Yan, Tang Ping, Lu Qunfeng
School of Nursing, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
BMC Psychol. 2025 May 10;13(1):494. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02797-8.
High levels of parental infant care competence could facilitate the transition of preterm infants from hospital to home and reduce their readmission rate and emergency visits after discharge. Researchers have confirmed psychological resilience and family resilience were excellent psychological resources that played important roles in the development of parental infant care competence. However, the interaction between these three variables in the parents of preterm infants remains unclear and requires further validation. This study aimed to explore the association between parental psychological resilience and premature infant care competence and the mediating role of family resilience on this relationship.
A multi-center cross-sectional study recruited a convenience sample of 381 parents of premature infants across four public hospitals in East China between November 2022 and December 2023. Research instruments included Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Family Hardiness Index, and Premature Infant Care Competency Scale. Structure equation modeling (SEM) were used to detect mediating effect of family resilience, while controlling for covariates.
The average score of parental premature infant care competence was 134.02 points. Differences in levels of premature infant care competence were found across parental gender, education levels and pre-existing diseases. The results of SEM showed a direct relationship between the mentioned three covariates and transitional parental premature infant care competence, but not with family resilience. SEM also revealed psychological resilience as a significant predictor of transitional parental care competence, exerting both direct effects (β = 0.318, P < 0.001, 95%CI: [0.166, 0.464]) and indirect effects (β = 0.111, P = 0.001, 95%CI: [0.049, 0.183]) mediated through family resilience.
The findings suggested higher psychological resilience related to better family resilience which can provide supportive environment, thus contributing to increased parental premature infant care competence. Future researchers could pay more attention to the early resilience assessment of parents and family resilience improvements based on the formation of therapeutic alliance with the entire family system of preterm babies.
高水平的父母婴儿护理能力有助于早产儿从医院过渡到家庭，并降低其出院后的再入院率和急诊就诊率。研究人员已证实心理韧性和家庭韧性是优秀的心理资源，在父母婴儿护理能力的发展中发挥着重要作用。然而，这三个变量在早产儿父母中的相互作用仍不明确，需要进一步验证。本研究旨在探讨父母心理韧性与早产儿护理能力之间的关联以及家庭韧性在这种关系中的中介作用。
一项多中心横断面研究在2022年11月至2023年12月期间，从中国东部四家公立医院招募了381名早产儿父母作为便利样本。研究工具包括康纳-戴维森韧性量表、家庭坚韧性指数和早产儿护理能力量表。采用结构方程模型（SEM）来检测家庭韧性的中介作用，同时控制协变量。
父母早产儿护理能力的平均得分为134.02分。在父母性别、教育水平和既往疾病方面，早产儿护理能力水平存在差异。SEM结果显示，上述三个协变量与过渡性父母早产儿护理能力之间存在直接关系，但与家庭韧性无关。SEM还显示，心理韧性是过渡性父母护理能力的显著预测因素，既发挥直接效应（β = 0.318，P < 0.001，95%CI：[0.166, 0.464]），也通过家庭韧性发挥间接效应（β = 0.111，P = 0.001，95%CI：[0.049, 0.183]）。
研究结果表明，较高的心理韧性与更好的家庭韧性相关，后者可以提供支持性环境，从而有助于提高父母的早产儿护理能力。未来的研究人员可以更加关注父母的早期韧性评估，并基于与早产婴儿整个家庭系统建立治疗联盟来改善家庭韧性。
