Training of parental scaffolding in high‐socio‐economic status families: How do parents of full‐ and preterm‐born toddlers benefit?

Background Preterm children have an increased risk regarding self‐regulation development. Given the strong link between parenting behaviour (i.e., scaffolding and sensitivity) and children's self‐regulation, parental training presents a promising way to counteract the negative consequences of preterm birth. Aims We explored the effectiveness of parental training by comparing a basic scaffolding training and a combined scaffolding/sensitivity training to an active treatment‐control group (stress management). Basic and combined treatments should increase parents’ domain‐specific self‐efficacy (DSSE) and beliefs on parental co‐regulation and the promotion of learning (BCL) more than the control treatment should. No such differences were expected for parents’ domain‐general self‐efficacy (DGSE). We examined whether parents of preterm and full‐term children benefitted equally from training conditions. Sample(s) A total of 87 parents of full‐term and 35 parents of preterm toddlers (24–36 months of age, corrected for prematurity) participated. Methods Based on a quasi‐experimental pre‐test–post‐test follow‐up design, parents were randomly assigned to treatments. A multimethod approach was applied, including self‐report, parent–child interactions, and standardized behavioural tasks. The presented study is limited to questionnaire data on parents’ DGSE, DSSE, and BCL. Results An overall increase resulted from pre‐ to post‐test and/or follow‐up. Parents’ BCL changed significantly stronger in the combined training than in the control group. Parents of preterm and full‐term children benefitted equally from basic and combined training. Conclusions The combined training enhanced BCL among parents of full‐term and preterm children the most. If such training also yields improvement on the behavioural level, this finding will advance preterm aftercare.