Table 4.

Description and purpose of parental questionnaires

Assessment	Purpose
CES-D	The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)[62] will be used to measure depressive symptoms. The questionnaire consists of 20 questions (total score range 0 to 60) with higher scores representing greater depressive symptoms. A score ≥16 on the CES-D represents significant depressive symptoms. This threshold has been shown to correlate well with clinician ratings of depression [63]. The CES-D has been used extensively in general populations and has been used with parents of preterm infants [64,65].
HADS	The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)[66] will be used to assess anxiety. The HADS assesses symptoms of anxiety and depression using 7 items for each scale that are scored with a 4-point rating scale (total score range 0 to 21). Scores above 11 are considered to indicate significant symptoms of depression or anxiety. The HADS has been validated in a variety of settings and has been found to perform well in assessing the severity of anxiety disorders and depression, not only in primary care patients and the general population [67] but also in parents of preterm infants [68].
PCL-S	The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Specific Version[69] (PCL-S) will be used to assess symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The PCL-S consists of 17 items (total score range 17 to 85). The questions are asked in relation to a nominated specific traumatic event, in this case, the birth of their very preterm infant. There is evidence for good test-retest reliability, internal consistency and convergent validity [70]. Only parents of preterm infants will complete the PCL-S.
IPIP-NEO	Neuroticism, or negative affectivity, will be measured with the 10-item Neuroticism scale of the International Personality Item Pool Five Factor Personality Inventory (IPIP-NEO) [71]. The Neuroticism scale selected for the present study is from a 50-item self-report version of the NEO PI-R, named the IPIP-NEO [72]. Responses on the Neuroticism scale are scored on a 5-point scale.
PSOC	The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) assesses parental satisfaction and efficacy in the parenting role, with higher scores representing higher satisfaction and efficacy in parenting. It is a 16 self-report measure with each item rated by parents on a 6-point rating scale. The PSOC has been widely used and there is good evidence for the validity of the measure [73].
CISS	The Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations (CISS) is a 48-item inventory which will be used to measure three major types of coping styles in an individual, including Task-Oriented (problem-solving), Emotion-Oriented (focuses on consequent emotions, becoming angry/upset), and Avoidance Coping (distraction and social diversion) [74]. Parents will be asked to rate each item on a 5-point scale ranging from (1) “not at all” to (5) “very much”.
PSI-LSS	The Life Stress Scale from the Parenting Stress Index (PSI-LSS)[75] assesses how many of 19 significant life events have occurred for parents within the last 12 months such as divorce, went deeply into debt, entered new school.
Demographic & family questionnaire	Items include relationship to child, whether the parent is the primary caregiver, number of other children in the home, cultural background.
Parent mental health history questionnaire	Five items will assess parental cigarette, alcohol and recreational drug use, and mental health service access history.
Parenting practices questionnaire	The Parenting Practices Questionnaire is a 16-item measure that assesses parental warmth, hostility and involvement with their child (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, LSAC).
ITSEA	The Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment[76] (ITSEA) is a 135 item parental report measure of social–emotional problems and competencies in 1 to 3 year olds. It assesses 4 broad domains of behaviour: dysregulation, externalizing, internalizing and competencies. Mean scores below the 10th percentile for competence, or above the 90th percentile for externalising, internalising and dysregulation suggest the infant may be at risk for psychopathology. The ITSEA has good internal consistency, validity, and test-retest reliability, and has been used extensively, including with very preterm populations.
MacArthur CDI	The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI)[77] are standardised parent report forms for assessing early language (semantic and grammatical) development in 16 to 30 month old children. The CDI: Words and Sentences (Toddler form) will be completed by the primary care-giver.
FAD	The Family Assessment Device (FAD)[78] requires the primary caregiver to indicate whether they “strongly agree”, “agree”, “disagree”, or “strongly disagree” with 60 statements about family functioning. The inventory yields 7 scales: problem solving, communication, roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, behaviour control and general functioning. Higher scores indicate poorer family functioning.
ITSP	The Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile Questionnaire (ITSP) [79] consists of 48 questions, addressing 6 sensory processing sections, including: Auditory, Visual, Tactile, Vestibular, and Oral Sensory Processing, as well as a General measure. Questions within each sensory processing section yield information about how the child responds to stimuli in each sensory system. Its purpose is to evaluate the possible contributions of sensory processing to the child’s daily performance patterns, to provide information about his or her tendencies to respond to stimuli and to identify which sensory systems are likely to be contributing to or creating barriers to functional performance. The ITSP has excellent content validity and adequate to excellent reliability [80].
CSBS-DP	The Infant-Toddler checklist from the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) [81] is a 24 item screening tool designed to measure 7 predictors of language including emotion and eye gaze, communication, gestures, sounds, words, understanding and object use in children aged between 6 and 24 months of age.
Social Risk Index	A Social Risk Index (family demographic questionnaire) [37] score will be calculated based on a combination of family structure, education of primary caregiver, employment of primary income earner, language spoken at home and maternal age at the birth of the child. Higher scores indicate higher social risk.