Investigation of the effect of supporting self-regulation skills training on self regulation skills of premature babies and parents' stress level, social support perception and parent cooperation

The aim of this research, conducted using a mixed-methods design, is to determine the effect of self-regulation skills training on the self-regulation skills of premature infants with corrected age ranging from 12 to 18 months, as well as its impact on parental stress levels, perception of social support, and parental cooperation. The study intends to be carried out in a concurrent nested design. The study group of the research consists of 16 parents, 8 of whom were in the experimental and 8 control groups, in the city center of Istanbul, which was reached using the snowball sampling method, who had an undiagnosed, preterm infant with a corrected age of 12-18 months. In the study, as a quantitative data collection tool, the Self-Regulation Skills Scale for Infants was developed by the researcher to determine the self-regulation skills of infants between 12-18 months; The Parental Stress Scale developed by the researcher to evaluate the change experienced by the parents after the birth of their babies and the resulting parenting stress level, and the Renewed Parent Social Support Scale (RASS) developed by Kaner (2010) to measure the social support felt by the parents after the birth. The Parental Cooperation Inventory, developed by Abidin and Brunner (1995) and adapted into Turkish by Salman-Engin (2014), to measure the cooperation of parents with their spouses while raising their children, and the "General Information Inventory" created by the researcher, which includes information about both the baby and his family. form" was used. As a qualitative data collection tool in the research, the observation forms created by the researcher to evaluate the home environment, parent-infant interaction, etc. during the home visits of the families to be trained, and the Education Process Evaluation Form, which was created by the researcher, in which the views of the parents who participated in the training on the education process after the training. used. Experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was applied in the study. After the pre-tests were applied, the experimental and control groups were determined by the matching control method. In order to determine the content of the education to be applied, the Need Identification Form created by the researcher was applied to a parent group with similar characteristics to the study group, independent of the experimental and control groups, and the education to be given in line with the needs of the parents was shaped. The Self-Regulation Skills Support Training, which was finalized by taking expert opinion, was applied to the families in the experimental group. The training was held once a week for 12 weeks in a predetermined training hall. Apart from the trainings, a total of 3 home visits were made once a month and the home environment, parent-infant interaction etc. were examined. Situations were observed and necessary suggestions were made to parents. After the training ended, post-tests were applied to the experimental and control groups. In addition, the Education Process Evaluation Form, which consists of open-ended questions in which the parents in the experimental group were asked their opinions about the education process, was applied. Four weeks after the application of the post-test, the experimental group was re-evaluated with the retention test. The data obtained from the research were analyzed by non-parametric methods. Self-Regulation Skills Support Training showed that there was a significant difference between the Cognitive Self-Regulation, Emotional Self-Regulation, and Behavioral Self-Regulation sub-dimensions of the infants of the parents in the experimental group and the total self-regulation scores pre-test, post-test and retention test scores, while the parents in the experimental and control groups found a significant difference. There was no significant difference between the post-test scores of the fathers' babies' self-regulation skills. In addition, it was found that the education applied made a significant difference on the mothers' parental stress and parental cooperation level post-test scores; It was also observed that there was a significant and positive increase in the 'Information Support' sub-dimension of parents' perception of social support. It was seen that the qualitative findings of the study supported the quantitative findings. Parents stated that the education given causes changes in their lives, their cooperation with each other in parenting works has increased, and they have more positive interactions with their babies thanks to the information they have acquired.