TABLE 1.

Characteristics of the included studies

Authors (year)	Country	Sample size, n	SSC group intervention			Control group intervention	Measure time	Main outcome
			Total length	Duration	Frequency
Lai et al. (2006)	China	30	3 days	60 min	Daily	Standard care	Immediately after intervention	Anxiety: STAI Form Y‐1
Norouzi et al. (2013)	Iran	60	NR	30 min	NR	Standard care	Immediately after intervention	Anxiety: STAI Form Y‐1
Badiee et al. (2014)	Iran	50	1 week	60 min	3 times/day	Standard care	Upon discharge	Anxiety: GHQ
Wang et al. (2020)	China	240	13 days	2 h	Daily	Standard care	Immediately after intervention	Anxiety: PSS: NICU Stress: PSI‐SF
Miles et al. (2006)	UK	78	4 weeks	20 min	Daily	Standard care	Upon discharge	Anxiety: STAI Stress: PSS: NICU
Feldman et al. (2014)	Israel	146	14 days	60 min	NR	Standard care	Birth–6 months	Anxiety: STAI
Samra et al. (2015)	USA	40	Mean 13 days	50 min	3 times/week	Hold baby wrapped in a blanket	Immediately after intervention	Stress: PSS: NICU
Coşkun and Günay (2020)	Turkish	84	3 weeks	15–20 min	Daily	Standard care	Immediately after intervention	Stress: PSS: NICU

Abbreviations: GHQ, General Health Questionnaire; NR, not reported; PSI‐SF, Parenting Stress Index‐Short Form; PSS: NICU, Parental Stress Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; State–Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale (Form Y‐1); UK, the United Kingdom; USA, the United States; STAI (Form Y‐1).