Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to determine the longitudinal impact of the EArly Collaborative Intervention (EACI), a three-session early intervention designed to enhance parent-infant interaction, on the developmental outcomes of preterm infants born between 30 + 0 and 35 + 6 weeks of gestation. Methods: This randomised controlled blinded study recruited families in two neonatal intensive care units in Sweden. In this one-year follow-up, 87 infants (standard care = 37, standard care with EACI = 50) were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. The primary study outcomes were cognition, receptive and expressive communication, and fine and gross motor development measured with the Bayley-III. Results: At one year of age (mean age 13.1 months SD = 0.64), there was a statistically significant effect in the intention-to-treat analysis on receptive communication F(1, 85) = 4.61, p = 0.035, η2 = 0.051. No statistically significant effects were found on the other Bayley-III outcome measures. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding gestational age, birth weight, gender, parents' education, or age at assessment. Conclusion: This new intervention indicates a small positive effect on moderate-to-late preterm infants' communication ability at one year of age. Though the attrition rate was relatively large, results are encouraging since clinical interventions supporting moderate-to-late preterm infants and parents are lacking. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02034617.
Document Type
Journal Article
School
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Publisher
Wiley
Identifier
Evalotte Mörelius: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3256-5407
Comments
Thornberg, U. B., Koch, F., Helmer, C. S., Tell, J., Nyberg, E., Abrahamsson, T., & Mörelius, E. (2025). Moderate‐to‐late preterm infants benefit from the early collaborative intervention: Primary outcomes of an RCT. Acta Paediatrica. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.70173