'I Did Not Know We Could Exercise This Small Premature Baby': Challenges Experienced by Parents While Implementing Early Intervention for Their Preterm Infants-A Qualitative Perspective.
Manasa Kolibylu Raghupathy, Selim Jahangir, Sonia Khurana and 2 others
PMID 39912601WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of preterm infants described struggling to perform home exercises due to fear of handling fragile babies, lack of awareness of early intervention, infant stress signs, time constraints and traditional gender roles where fathers avoided limb exercises.
Key findings
01Parents reported fear and apprehension in handling their preterm infants due to low birth weight and small size, which hindered the administration of early intervention exercises.
02Many parents were unaware that early intervention programs existed or that they could exercise their infants, assuming development would happen naturally without specific input.
03Adherence to home programs was limited by time constraints, infant sleep patterns and difficulty recognising stress behaviours, while fathers often avoided specific limb exercises due to lack of confidence.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used convenience sampling from a single tertiary care hospital in South India, limiting generalisability to other populations or settings. The interviewer was the same physiotherapist who trained the parents, which may have influenced how forthcoming participants were about their challenges. Only 10 parents were interviewed, and the study focused on challenges rather than facilitators, potentially missing successful coping strategies. Participants were predominantly upper-middle-class homemakers, so findings may not reflect the experiences of working parents or those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these themes as evidence that the early intervention program was ineffective or that parents were non-compliant by choice. The barriers described, such as fear of handling fragile infants and lack of prior knowledge, highlight specific areas where parental training and support need to be strengthened rather than indicating a failure of the intervention itself.