Multisensory Interventions to Improve Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Preterm Infants Hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

The long-term goal of this project is to improve the health and well-being of preterm infants and their parents. Although there is evidence to support positive multisensory interventions in the NICU, these interventions are often applied in an inconsistent manner, reducing their benefit. Through a rigorous and scientific process, we have developed a structured multisensory intervention program, titled Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE), which includes specific doses and targeted timing of evidence-based interventions such as massage, auditory exposure, rocking, holding, and skin-to-skin care. The interventions are based on the infant's developmental stage and are adapted based on the infant's medical status and behavioral cues. The multisensory interventions are designed to be conducted during each day of NICU hospitalization by the parents, who are educated and supported to provide them. The proposed work aims to determine the effect of multisensory interventions on parent mental health, parent-child interaction, brain activity (amplitude integrated electroencephalography), and infant developmental outcomes through age 2 years, with specific attention to language outcome.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 1 day
Maximum Age: 7 days
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• ≤ 32 weeks estimated gestational age (EGA)

• recruited within the first week of life

Locations
United States
Missouri
Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
RECRUITING
St Louis
Contact Information
Primary
Roberta Pineda, PhD OTR/L
bobbi.pineda@chan.usc.edu
(323) 442-2850
Backup
Amit Mathur, MD
amit.mathur@health.slu.edu
314) 577-5642
Time Frame
Start Date: 2023-05-29
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-08-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 215
Treatments
Active_comparator: Monitored standard of care
At the study site, much like other contemporary NICUs, parents are encouraged to be present 24 hours per day, with significant variability in the amount, types and timing of parent engagement. Infant holding is supported, provided the infant can maintain physiological stability during handling. Parents can hold infants on mechanical ventilation, but holding is not encouraged during times when the infant is on oscillatory ventilation and/or when chest tubes are in place. Holding time may be restricted in infants \<32 weeks due to temperature instability. Nurses and therapists foster parent participation through instruction on caregiving and developmentally appropriate interactions, but these are balanced with other priorities of care. With standard of care, there is no targeted and set amount of positive sensory exposure, and practices vary based on the comfort level of nurses, the medical team, and the parents.
Experimental: SENSE multisensory program
The SENSE program includes the provision of specific types and amounts of evidence-based tactile, auditory, visual, vestibular/kinesthetic, and olfactory interventions to be conducted by parents with their preterm infants, with a specific amount defined for each day of hospitalization. The program changes across PMA and an infant's tolerance of the prescribed activities. A sensory support team can fill in the gaps in intervention for infants in the SENSE group when parents are not available. The parent education materials identify specific doses of sensory inputs at each PMA. Feasibility has been established, with provision of an average of 155 hours of sensory exposures across NICU hospitalization.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: Washington University School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc., St. Louis University, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Harvard University
Leads: University of Southern California

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov