Parental Perception of Child Vulnerability in the NICU and Development Outcomes: A Randomized Control Trial Preventative Intervention With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Summary
This study is being done to see if outcomes for both a premature infant's parents and the infant born prematurely who have spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can be improved through parent cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions.
Description
The NICU is a stressful experience for parents. This stress naturally affects parents in different ways, ranging from feelings of depression, anxiety, or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While these feelings are very common in parents of NICU children, they can also impact the ways parents perceive their infants, which leads to alterations of parenting styles and exposure to developmental activities for growing infants. This phenomenon is well described in the literature as Vulnerable Child Syndrome (VCS), or Parent Perceived Child Vulnerability (PPCV) to illness. Traumatic events from e…
Eligibility
- Age range
- Not specified
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Born at Parkland Hospital * English or Spanish speaking mother +/- father * ≤ 30.6 weeks gestation at birth * Survival to 33 weeks gestation Exclusion Criteria: * Significant congenital anomalies * Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement or foster care placement -- Prior enrollment in this PreVNT study for an older sibling.
Interventions
- BehavioralCognitive Behavioral Therapy
The intervention group will receive standard NICU and follow up care information plus a total of 5 CBT sessions split between the NICU and outpatient clinic visits post discharge from NICU. The CBT sessions will address PPCV in parents and parenting skills to address this. The CBT sessions will be standardized with a manual for study investigators to follow during sessions, and made with Dr. Richard Shaw from Stanford University, who wrote the prior CBT manual for anxiety, depression, and PTSD for NICU parents. Study staff will be trained to give the standardized CBT sessions using the manual via pilot sessions. There will be 3 CBT sessions given in the Parkland NICU before discharge and then 2 in the THRIVE follow up clinic at Children's Medical Center after discharge from the NICU.
Location
- Parkland Health & Hospital SystemDallas, Texas