Exploring the association between parent touch attitudes and experiences with duration of skin-to-skin contact and holding in preterm infants

Skin-to-skin contact (SSC) provides extensive benefits for preterm infants and is highly recommended. However, parental SSC duration in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) varies considerably, with contributing factors poorly understood. Parents' perspectives on, and prior experiences with touch may influence SSC duration. To investigate how parental attitudes toward and experiences with touch relate to SSC and holding durations, and to explore how these durations vary by relationship (mother/father), infant gestational age (GA) and parents' level of education. Observational Study. Parents ( n = 123) of preterm infants ( n = 69), GA 27 0 –36 6 , admitted to a Norwegian family-centered care NICU providing 24/7 parental presence, participated. Daily parental SSC and holding durations (one week), video-evaluation of occurrence of slow, gentle and faster stroking, and Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire. Mothers provided significantly more SSC ( p = .024) and holding ( p = .005) than fathers. Parents provided significantly more SSC for infants at GA 27–30 ( p = .029) and GA 31–33 ( p = .036) than for GA 34–36, while significantly more holding for GA 31–33 ( p = .022) and GA 34–36 ( p = .001) than GA 27–30. No relation between parents' touch attitudes and experiences, affective touch awareness, or education, and SSC and holding duration was observed. Maternal status and GA predicted SSC and holding duration yet explained the variance only partially. Parents' touch attitudes and experiences showed no association. This suggests that contextual, clinical or systemic factors may predominantly determine SSC and holding provision. • Skin-to-skin duration varies widely among parents of preterm infants. • Parents' touch attitudes & experiences do not predict preterm skin-to-skin duration. • Mothers provide more skin-to-skin contact to preterm infants than fathers. • Preterm infants of lower gestational age receive more parental skin-to-skin contact. • Skin-to-skin duration aligns with infant needs: younger infants get more contact.