ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1667702
This article is part of the Research TopicChild and Elder Abuse: A Public Health IssueView all articles
Experience of the Burden of Care for Family Caregivers of Preterm Infants: A Qualitative Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xing Yi People's Hospital,, Guizhou, China
- 2Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
- 3Yan'an Hospital Affiliated To Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract Aim To explore the experiences and perceptions of caregiving burdens among family caregivers of preterm infants. Design A qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews Methods Using purposive sampling, family caregivers of children hospitalized in the pediatrics department of a tertiary general hospital in Yunnan Province from November 27 to December 6, 2023, were selected as interview participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and Colaizzi's seven-step phenomenological analysis method was used for data analysis. Findings A total of 13 family caregivers of preterm infants were interviewed, and four themes and nine sub-themes were ultimately distilled: (1) economic burden (worries about medical and living expenses); (2) psychological burden (worries about the perception of the child's illness, worries about the prognosis of the child's illness, worries about unknowns regarding the child's growth, differences in parenting thinking, and disturbances in parenting information); (3) health and time burdens (heavy health burdens and time pressure); (4) dilemma of lacking social support (the need for home care guidance for the child, the need for support from the family). Conclusion This study, through in-depth interviews, demonstrates that the burden experienced by family caregivers of preterm infants is multidimensional. The findings indicate that future support strategies and policy development should prioritize financial assistance, psychological interventions, health maintenance, time support, and enhanced social support networks as core dimensions. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care This study provides substantial qualitative evidence for understanding the actual experiences and fundamental needs of family caregivers of preterm infants, while suggesting directions for establishing a more humanistic and effective support system. Reporting Method This study employed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ). Patient or Public Contribution Family caregivers of preterm infants actively collaborated and participated in data collection during the study.
Keywords: Infant, Premature, Caregivers, Emotions, caregiver burden, qualitative research
Received: 17 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Guo, Hu and Wen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoxiao Wen, Xing Yi People's Hospital,, Guizhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.