Introduction
Prematurity is associated with increased risk of lifelong morbidity such as pulmonary, cardiac, and renal problems as well as increased risk of mortality (Abitbol & Rodriguez, 2012). The birth of a premature infant and hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) disrupts the expected development of interactive skills for both the parent and the infant. Disruptions include situational and environmental circumstances associated with the birth and the NICU such as the physical and psychological effects of early birth for the family, as well as physical fragility and the immaturity of the infant. Thus, preterm infants are often exposed to many of the risk factors associated with poor long-term outcomes (Benzies et al., 2013).
Preterm infants constitute a large proportion of the newborn population in the neonatal intensive care units (Abdeyazdan et al., 2014). Approximately 15 million babies are preterm each year (5% to 18% of all deliveries). Preterm
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In addition, the appearance and behavior of the infant, and the unit’s environment like light, sound and unfamiliar equipment, tubes and devices which are connected to the baby cause their stress to be doubled (Valizadeh et al., 2012). Also, these disturb the maturation of parental attachment bonds, which are regarded as an essential part of the parental behavioral system (Van Bakel et al., 2013).
Parental attachment bonds may be regarded as complementary to the infants’ care-seeking attachment and deal with emotional ties that involve the development of feelings of love (Walsh, 2010). Prematurity has been found to be a strong predictor of diminished caregiving quality, while research has reported a weak impact of prematurity on the development of child attachment (Korja et al.,