The goal of this observational study is to investigate the parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and dyadic coping of preterm parents and explore the influence and pathway analysis of dyadic coping between parenting stress and parenting self-efficacy.

For now, there is a lack of investigation and research on parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and dyadic coping of co-parenting for discharged premature infants in the literature, and the mediating effect of dyadic coping between parenting stress and parenting self-efficacy of preterm parents has not been verified yet. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for effective intervention for preterm parents with high parenting pressure and insufficient parenting self-efficacy in clinical work.

Inclusion criteria for parents

• Parents of hospitalized preterm infants with a gestational age of less than 37 weeks;
• Both parents are at least 18 years old;
• Able to read and communicate in Chinese, able to complete the questionnaire independently or with the help of the investigator;

Inclusion criteria for Infants

• Gestational age less than 37 weeks;
• admitted to the NU or NICU and discharged after treatment

Exclusion criteria for parents

• Single-parent family;
• Parents diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression;

Exclusion criteria for Infants

• for birth defects cannot be cured and affect the quality of life;
• infants who were given up treatment due to illness or family reasons;
• transferred or death;

The parents of premature infants admitted to Peking University Shenzhen Hospital from November 2022 to November 2023.