Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Instrument development and an intervention to increase parents' self-efficacy regarding their infant's sleep
Karin Cato1, Eva-Lotta Funkquist1, Andreas Karlsson Rosenblad2
1Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 14 B, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden.
Objective:
Many Swedish parents experience that their infant has sleeping problems. Parents' self-efficacy regarding their infants' sleep may play an important role in how they perceive these problems. This pilot study aimed to develop an instrument measuring parents' self-efficacy regarding their infant's sleep and to examine if parents' self-efficacy was affected by an intervention focusing on parental education.
Method:
Mothers and fathers, at a maternity unit in Sweden, were drawn into either an intervention (n = 46) or a control (n = 42) group. The intervention group received a home visit from a nurse who provided information about infant sleep; the importance of attachment; and advice regarding sleep, breastfeeding and bed sharing, including guidelines for safe bed sharing. Three months later, the participants answered questions on background data, breastfeeding, sleep and self-efficacy.
Results:
The 11-item two-factor Uppsala Parental Self-Efficacy about Infant Sleep Instrument (UPPSEISI) was constructed to measure parents' perceived self-efficacy. In adjusted analyses, being in the intervention group was associated with a higher self-efficacy (P = 0.035), as were being a mother (P = 0.003) and being satisfied with one's own sleep (P = 0.007), while parents' own sleeping problems were associated with a lower self-efficacy (P = 0.015).
Conclusion:
Importantly, parental education may increase parents' self-efficacy regarding their infant's sleep.
Related Concept Videos
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Management of Insomnia
Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
Insomnia
Multiple factors contribute...
Nightmares and Night Terrors
Nightmares...
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

