Background: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS is the fourth leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. There is no definitive cause of death pertaining to SIDS, but certain risk factors have been identified that increase the risk of SIDS in an infant. While safe-sleep education during the prenatal time of parenthood is important, it is also essential to continue this education comprehensively in the primary care setting and in any other exposure the family has to healthcare.
Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the self-reported knowledge of University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residents’, confidence, and beliefs on anticipatory guidance in relation to safe sleep practices before and after a virtual safe sleep educational intervention.
Methods: Using a pre- and post-test design, this single site quasi-experimental study included: (1) Pre-intervention electronic survey (2) PowerPoint educational intervention via E-Mail (3) Post-intervention electronic survey. Convenience sampling was used among medical residents in the UK Pediatric Residency Program (n=70) for eligible participants. Descriptive statistics and odds ratios were generated to determine statistical significance.
Results: Of the 70 eligible participants, 13 participants (n=13) completed the pre-survey, resulting in an 18.5% response rate. Only 1 of the 13 eligible participants completed the post-survey in its entirety resulting in a 7% response rates. This caused the main data to be pulled from the pre-survey responses. Results found that 23.1% of residents found discussing safe sleep is difficult. Barriers that were identified for safe sleep education were time (30.8%), not enough resources (15.4%), and patients not being interested in receiving education (15.4%). Things that were identified by the sample that would aid in educating families are additional training (69.2%), educational videos for families (53.8) and printed materials to share with families (100%). Lastly, only 46.2% of the sample had received formal safe sleep education.
Conclusions: Providing additional training and materials to providers on the topic of safe sleep anticipatory guidance could improve their confidence in providing safe sleep education to families