A new approach for improving infant sleep-sharing safety

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Let's Talk About Sleep! A new approach for improving infant sleep-sharing safety: a feasibility study

• IRAS ID

  184634

• Contact name

  Helen Ball

• Contact email

  h.l.ball@durham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Durham University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Decisions about infant sleep locations and their safety are often made and used during the night in response to unpredictable events. Hazardous parent-infant co-sleeping may occur at this time, but due to previous risk-elimination approaches parents currently receive little information about sleep-sharing safety and risk-reduction. As 50% of UK parents sometimes sleep with their young babies information about co-sleeping risk minimisation needs to be given to those with infant-care responsibilities.
  
  The planned intervention aims to address hazardous co-sleeping arrangements by providing parents with tailored information about co-sleeping safety, and offering those with SIDS risk factors (e.g. smoking during pregnancy) a safer sleep box for their baby. The intervention involves:
  a) training health care providers in sleep-sharing safety
  b) facilitating co-sleeping safety discussions between health care providers and parents using an Infant Sleep Safety Tool (ISST)
  c) supporting parents to assess their infant’s sleep environment and reduce risks
  d) providing parents with a free infant safer-sleep box (ISSB) where needed to avoid hazardous sleep-sharing
  e) providing easily accessible follow-up information for providers and parents
  
  This will be a collaborative project between Durham University Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, The Lullaby Trust, UNICEF Baby-friendly Initiative, Best Beginnings, and Sunderland Royal Hospital NHS trust. User organisations, local health professionals and parents have been involved in the development of the project and intervention materials. In this initial phase we aim to assess the feasibility of the intervention. Specifically we aim to:
  a) assess the acceptability of the new sleep-sharing safety intervention
  b) test education and data collection tools
  c) assess the feasibility of delivering the intervention
  d) generate data on the success of the intervention
  e) identify potential barriers to the intervention

  We plan to move towards a randomised trial of the intervention should the feasibility study produce positive outcomes.

• REC name

  North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/NE/0255

• Date of REC Opinion

  10 Sep 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion