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eHealth early intervention programs to support premature parents transitioning from NICU to home on parental and
Liliana Ferraz1,2, Maria Raul Xavier3, Manuel Gameiro1,2
1Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), Coimbra, Portugal.
Insights
eHealth early intervention programs show promise for supporting premature infants and their parents post-neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge. Further research is needed to clarify their impact on parental and infant outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- eHealth interventions
- Parental support
Background:
- eHealth early intervention programs offer benefits for parents of premature infants post-NICU discharge.
- Parents report improved user-friendliness, confidence, satisfaction, and knowledge with these programs.
- The overall effectiveness of eHealth programs on parental and infant outcomes requires further clarification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of eHealth early intervention programs for premature infants and their parents transitioning home from the NICU.
- To evaluate the impact of these programs on parental and infant outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review following JBI methodology.
- Inclusion of quantitative studies (published/unpublished) in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- Independent study selection, appraisal, and data extraction by two reviewers, with narrative synthesis and potential meta-analysis.
Main Results:
- This section is to be populated upon completion of the review.
Conclusions:
- This section is to be populated upon completion of the review.
Objective:
This review will assess the effectiveness of eHealth early intervention programs in supporting premature infants and their parents transition from neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to home and the impact of such programs on parental and infant outcomes.
Introduction:
The literature has shown the benefits of eHealth early intervention programs to support premature infants and their parents after discharge from NICUs. Parents have reported benefits such as enhanced user-friendliness, increased confidence in infant care, satisfaction, and knowledge acquisition. However, the effectiveness of these programs on parental and infant outcomes remains unclear.
Inclusion Criteria:
This review will consider studies that assess any early intervention program using eHealth to support premature infants and their parents after discharge from NICU. The programs may be initiated during hospitalization or within the first month of discharge. The programs will include interventions that use eHealth components (eg, teleconsultation), either alone or in combination with face-to-face interventions (eg, home visits). This review will consider parental outcomes, including stress, anxiety, competence, and satisfaction, as well as infant outcomes, including health service utilization and cognitive, motor, and social development.
Methods:
This review will follow the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of effectiveness. The search strategy will aim to find both published and unpublished quantitative studies in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, without any geographical or cultural limitations. Two reviewers will independently perform study selection, critical appraisal, and data extraction. The results will be accompanied by a narrative synthesis. If possible, a meta-analysis will be conducted and the Summary of Findings will be presented using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach.
Review Registration:
PROSPERO CRD42023444721.
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