Post-Traumatic Symptomatology in Parents with Premature Infants: A Systematic Review of the Literature

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ABSTRACT: The emotional distress resulting from the experience of giving birth to a preterm infant (gestational age < 37 weeks) and the subsequent neonatal unit hospitalisation may be a traumatic experience for parents. In the present systematic literature review, studies on parental posttraumatic symptomatology following birth of a premature infant were reviewed. A total of 5 studies were identified. All studies reviewed found that posttraumatic symptomatology is quite common in parents or primary caregivers of premature infants. However, methodological weaknesses of relevant studies (e.g. use of convenience samples, lack of pre - delivery assessments) make it difficult to draw …