https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032725007451?via%3Dihub
The aim was to determine the effect of immediate Skin-to-Skin Care (SSC) for very preterm infants on parents’ mental health, by assessing symptoms of depression and anxiety within the first year.
In a randomized clinical trial conducted between 2018–2021 at two NICUs in Sweden and in Stavanger University Hospital, Norway, preterm infants (28–33 weeks of gestation) were allocated to standard incubator care or SSC with either parent, initiated at birth and continued throughout the first 6 h. Symptoms of depression and anxiety in parents were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The study included 91 infants (36 twins [40 %]) and 73 mothers and 73 fathers. Infants had a mean gestational age of 31 + 1 weeks and birthweight of 1534 g. Immediate SSC was found to significantly reduce depression symptoms in mothers and anxiety symptoms in fathers at one week after birth and depression and anxiety symptoms in fathers at term-equivalent age of infant.