Psychosocial aspects of premature birth

Abstract

Social work with families raising premature children is a special field that requires in-depth knowledge of the aspects of premature birth. Premature birth has a prevalence of about 9% in Hungary; thus, social work has numerous areas where this knowledge is required in family counselling. Premature birth as a loss event results in a unique coping strategy that is associated with both short- and long-term effects. In line with studies from the scientific literature and our results, suddenness, unpreparedness, trauma chain, stress and difficulties of the parent-child bonding are important elements of the process.