Objectives. Mother-infant separation after birth is a well-known source of stress. Parents and preterm infants in neonatal intensive care are separated immediately after birth. Skin-to-skin care is 1 possible method to reduce the separation-dependent stress. The aim of the present study was to investigate how skin-to-skin care influences stress for the mother and the infant in neonatal intensive care.

No internationally developed child-centred research checklist is currently available to enhance the quality and transparency of the development, reporting and evaluation of research undertaken with children. To develop an internationally relevant, expert informed child-centred research checklist. A descriptive mixed methods study was undertaken in five sequential phases, including a Delphi component. Academic/international context. This study involved five sequential stages: 1. Literature review using four databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO) and analysis to identify key themes in child-centred research (January 2020). 2. Generate a questionnaire based on the key themes for international experts in child research to provide their opinions on what should be included in a child-centred research checklist (March 2020). 3. Inductive thematic analysis of the experts' responses to generate the initial draft checklist (June 2020). 4. The checklist progressed through three rounds of Delphi study for a wider range of experts to provide their consensus on what a child-centred research checklist should contain (August 2020-February 2021). 5. Refinement of the child-centred research checklist based on the Delphi study (March 2021-November 2022). A total of 160 articles met the inclusion criteria for review and were considered in the development of a 10-item open-ended questionnaire, adapted for four age-brackets (0-1 yrs., 2-4 yrs., 5-10 yrs., >11 yrs). Responses from 14 experts across 10 countries generated 205 generic statements and 76 examples to inform a child-centred research checklist. Following this, 158 experts from eleven disciplines across 18 countries participated in the three round Delphi study (38 % retention rate over the three rounds). The final checklist includes 11 statements and 17 examples represented under three categories of "child-parent consent, assent and dissent", "code of conduct" and "child focused methods". The child-centred research checklist was generated from a mixed methods study undertaken in five sequential phases, with input by 172 experts from 11 disciplines across 19 countries. The child-centred research checklist is the first international, expert informed tool to support good quality and transparent child-centred research. We call on researchers, clinicians, journal editors, organisations, and ethics committees to use this checklist for future research with children. The next phase of this project is engagement with children and their families to refine the checklist. New checklist to support good quality child research practices @IFNAorg.

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: Transition to parenthood can be stressful to new parents in Singapore, especially with the lack of continuity of care from healthcare professionals during the postpartum period. Short hospital stays limit the availability of support and time parents need to be well-equipped with parenting and infant care skills. Poor parental adjustment may in turn lead to negative parental outcomes and adversely affect the child’s development. Therefore, for the family’s future wellbeing and in order to facilitate smoother transition to parenthood, there is a need for easily accessible technology-based educational programs that can support parents during this crucial perinatal period. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a technology-based supportive educational parenting program (SEPP) on parenting outcomes during the perinatal period. Methods: A randomized controlled pretest-posttest experimental study design was used. The study recruited 236 patients (118 couples) from an antenatal ward of a tertiary hospital. Eligible parents were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 118) or the control group (n = 118). The SEPP is based on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Bowlby’s theory of attachment. Components of the intervention include two telephone-based education sessions and a mobile-health application follow-up for one month. Outcome measures including parental bonding, parental self-efficacy, perceived social support, parenting satisfaction, postnatal depression, and anxiety were measured using reliable and valid instruments. Data were collected over 12 months (December 2016 to December 2017) at four timepoints: during pregnancy (third trimester), immediately postpartum, one month postpartum, and three months postpartum. A linear mixed methods analysis was used to compare the percentage change of all outcome variables. Results: The intervention group had statistically significant improvements for parental bonding [P < 0.001, 95%CI -4.78 – -3.90], parental self-efficacy [P < 0.001, 95% CI: 1.94 – 2.79], social support [P < 0.001, 95% CI: 2.78 – 3.47], parenting satisfaction [P < 0.001, 95% CI: 3.14 – 3.83], postnatal depression [P < 0.001, 95% CI: -3.93 – -3.15], and postnatal anxiety [P < 0.001, 95% CI: -3.65 – -2.85] at one month and three months postpartum compared to the control group. A cessation of the intervention at one month postpartum showed a decline in all parental outcomes. Conclusions: The technology-based SEPP is effective in improving parental bonding, parental self-efficacy, perceived social support, parental satisfaction, and parental bonding. Hence, nurses and midwives should incorporate it with existing hands-on parent-craft classes and routine care. Further studies should investigate the long-term effectiveness (beyond three months) of this program on parental outcomes. Clinical Trial: ISRCTN48536064