Effect of newborn hospitalization on family and child behavior: a 12-year follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of a critical illness and hospitalization of a newborn on family functioning and child behavior during the subsequent 12 years.


METHODS
With the use of a randomized stratified cluster sampling, a follow-up of 1443 pregnant women was started at early pregnancy. These pregnancies resulted in 1294 deliveries. A total of 170 infants were admitted to neonatal units and were classified according to their medical risk, and 1112 healthy-born infants were eligible for the control group. After excluding the children with disabilities at 3 years of age, 134 remained in the risk groups and 952 children remained in the control group. The follow-up examinations were performed at the ages of 3 and 9 months and at 3 and 12 years. The main outcome measures were parents' subjective well-being and adjustment to the child, family functioning, and child's behavioral problems.


RESULTS
The families with a critically ill newborn experienced more need for support and maladaptation during the first year after delivery. They reported more child behavior problems at 3 years, but no differences were found at 12 years of age. The families with a hospitalized, low-risk infant coped as well as the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
A critical illness of a newborn had long-lasting effects on the family and child behavior. The hospitalization of a newborn with a low medical risk did not have any negative consequences on family or child behavior. This is encouraging for a large group of families that experience early separation from their newborn infant as a result of hospitalization.
Rautava
Päivi
P
Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Lehtonen
Liisa
L
Helenius
Hans
H
Sillanpää
Matti
M
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology