Effectiveness of Oral-Motor Stimulation on Oral Feeding in Premature Infants: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Randomized Trials

ObjectivesPremature infants (born before 37 weeks of gestational age) frequently experience feeding difficulties due to underdeveloped oral motor skills and poor chewing, swallowing, and breathing coordination. In order to improve oral feeding efficiency in these infants, Oral-Motor Stimulation (OMS) has been used in various studies. This systematic review study will aim to assess the effectiveness of OMS for oral feeding in preterm infants.Materials & MethodsThe authors will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. They will conduct a search in electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials in The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), Medline via PubMed, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) for nursing and related healthcare texts without language restrictions from the first month of 1991 to the fifth month of 2024 to achieve the study objectives. All Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials (RCT) examining the effect of OMS on oral feeding in preterm infants will be included in this study.ResultsThe primary outcome of this systematic review will be oral feeding, and the secondary outcomes will include duration of hospitalization, weight gain, and feeding efficiency. Two independent reviewers will select and extract data for the study. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (RoB2) will be used to evaluate potential biases in the study. Publication bias will be evaluated using funnel plots, Begg’s, and Egger’s tests. The degree of heterogeneity among the studies will be assessed using the I2 statistic and the χ2 test. Analyses of subgroups will also be carried out. All meta-analyses will be conducted using Stata V.14.ConclusionThis systematic review protocol for preterm infants will aim to promote evidence-based decision-making and support the development of clinical practice guidelines in preterm feeding

Investigating the Development and Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Stuttering Related Quality of Life Questionnaire

Objectives: People who stutter (PWS) experience many problems in their lives in addition to speech fluency disorder. Meanwhile, stuttering reduces their quality of life (QoL). QoL depends on different social, economic, and cultural conditions of societies. Considering that there is no specific questionnaire to investigate the QoL in Iranian PWS; this study develops and evaluates the psychometric properties of a stuttering related QoL questionnaire (SRQoLQ). Methods: First, by interviewing 11 PWS, with the help of 10 speech-language pathologists in the stuttering field, in addition to reviewing the literature, initial items were developed and a preliminary version of the SRQoLQ was designed. The content validity of the SRQoLQ was evaluated using two qualitative and quantitative methods (determining content validity ratio and content validity index) using the opinions of 12 experts. The qualitative method was also used to determine the face validity and interviews were conducted with 10 PWS. Finally, the reliability of the SRQoLQ was investigated through internal consistency and test re-test reliability with the participation of 83 and 30 PWS, respectively. Results: Interviews with PWS and experts in addition to literature review led to the development of a questionnaire with 40 items. After determining content and face validity, the number of items in the SRQoLQ was reduced to 32. The results of calculating the Cronbach α coefficient showed the appropriate reliability of the SRQoLQ (0.96). The intraclass correlation coefficient of the SRQoLQ items in the test re-test phase ranged from 0.6 to 0.95. Moreover, the intraclass correlation coefficient value of the SRQoLQ was 0.95. Discussion: A suitable tool was developed to evaluate the QoL of PWS, and its psychometric properties were investigated. Based on the results, the SRQoLQ for PWS is a valid and reliable tool with 32 items that can be used for clinical or research purposes in the field of stuttering