Triestamental university project experience with families of premature boys and girls: strengths of the bidirectionality in extension

Abstract

This article summarizes the outreach project entitled "Tools of care and mutual care for families of premature children”, winner of the Valentín Letelier Fund (2021a) from the Outreach and Communications Vice-Chancellor Office of the University of Chile. The project was built by a triestamental team from the university community to benefit the Association of Premature Infants' Relatives and Friends as well as the community of children and their families belonging to the premature polyclinic of Hospital Dr. Roberto del Río in Santiago de Chile. The objective was to highlight the problems experienced by the families of premature children, disseminate their activities through social networks, maintain constant communication among them, receive updated information from the collaborative academic and professional community, and enable articulation with support networks to help the families of premature children as they are being born. The university community responded to this call positively and jointly in the co-construction and bidirectionality during a year and a half of work. All the objectives were met, and both the families of premature children and the triestamental university community benefited from the project. Difficulties and limitations are discussed in the article.