800 Section - Comprehensive Assessment of Psychological Health in Preterm Infants and their Caregivers

A prospective cohort pilot study was conducted in 8 preterm infants before the corrected age of (CA) 6 months and their caregivers who visited the outpatient rehabilitation department and who underwent early rehabilitation program in a tertiary hospital. To assess the stress, depression, and self-efficacy of the caregivers, the Korean Parenting Stress Index, Beck's Depression Inventory, and a self-efficacy scale were administered at the time of patient enrollment and when the patient reached the CA 6 and 12 months. Each visit, caregivers also completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire – Revised (IBQ-R) for the assessment of behavioral/adaptive challenges of patients. 

Results: Caregivers showed various distribution regarding income, occupation, education status, usage of foster service, health status, and others. Caregivers had relatively acceptable amount of stress, however, ‘health’ and ‘role restriction’ were the main stress among them. Child’s distractibility/hyperactivity reinforced more stress of the caregivers as the child grew older. Also, the amount of stress caused by child rose at 12 months. Level of depression was various in the caregivers, and 5 (62.5%) had some level of depression. The self-efficacy of the caregivers was compatible. In IBQ-R, all values were average or improved at 12 months compared to the values at enrollment.

Conclusion:

Caregivers had stress in worsening of caregiver health and in restriction of the caregiver’s freedom, but the infants showed mostly average values regarding behavior. Further studies are needed including large population to identify the risk factors of infant behavioral/adaptive challenges and stress of the caregivers.