From the perspective of caregivers, social interaction is a dynamic process in which many aspects are involved. Caregivers reported about eight main themes across child factors, parental factors and environmental factors that influence real-time as well as long term processes of social interaction. Our proposed model of social interaction in preterm infants visualizes the interrelatedness of these themes. Recommendation: Development of social skills and social power could be strengthenend by paying more attention to the relatedness between real-time social interaction experiences and long-term outcome, with regard to possible cascading effects.
A key element in social development is interaction with others, and preterm infants have an increased risk for problems in this aspect. We aimed to gain additional insight into parents’ perception about their preterm child’s social interaction upon reaching school age. Parents informed us about their child being a little fighter, having issues of coping with their disabilities in social contexts, and how their child withdraws from situations that are overlystimulating. They also expressed their concerns about the future, how they encourage their child, and how they experience the transition to primary school. Parents’ experiences concerning the social interaction of their preterm child can be categorized into eight themes of processes in social interaction: child factors, self-regulation, real-time social interaction, long-term social interaction, parental factors, parenting, social environment, and social experiences. Our proposed model of social interaction in preterm infants visualizes theinterrelatedness between these themes in social interaction
