The Baby Safe Sleep Planner
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preventing Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Infancy: an assessment and planning tool for families at increased risk
IRAS ID
305560
Contact name
Peter Blair
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Governance Team
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NIHR202230, Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Number; R102175-101, Finance Grant code; 2021 - 4165, Sponsors Ref (RED); NIHR202230, Funders Ref (NIHR)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The aim of this intervention development and evaluation study is to find out how an online risk scoring and planning tool could support safer infant sleep during disrupted routines for infants at increased risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI). The main aim of the tool is to improve uptake of safer sleep practices in families at increased risk for SUDI.The objectives of the study are:
1.To develop a risk scoring and planning tool of modifiable and unmodifiable factors to quantify the potential risk in different infant sleeping environments.
2. To develop an interface that the target group (health visitors, midwives, family nurses and families with infants considered to be at increased risk of SUDI) can use.
3. To conduct a process evaluation study with the target group to understand how the tool works in real world conditions and refine it ready for testing in a feasibility study.
4. To conduct a scoping exercise to assess the potential for widening this type of tool to other infant care practices and safety topics.
5. To write a protocol for a feasibility study to test the best way to assess the effectiveness of the tool.Summary of results
Aims and objectives: To develop a planning tool for vulnerable families to encourage safer sleep for babies at increased risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI).
Background: Every year in the UK, about 300-400 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly. Many of these deaths could be avoided by following safer sleep advice. Most of the babies are born in the most socially-deprived groups. Bereaved families tell us the risks were often a result of a change in their normal routine when caring for their baby. We want to identify families with new-born babies at risk and give them a tool that allows them to plan how to keep babies safe when routines change.
Methods: We have used data from our previous studies to identify at-risk families and checked against deaths in 2020 to make sure these predictors were still relevant. We have built an online tool to plan ahead for safer sleep which sends a picture to the parents mobile phone so they can share this with others. Using three health visitor/midwife and family nursing teams we tested the planning tool with families in Bristol.
Key findings: Our tool suggests a small number of babies are at more than 10-times the risk compared to most other babies. Health professionals found the tool easy to use and parents felt they could trust the information and didn’t feel judged.
Dissemination, outputs and impact: The results will be fed back to the parents and professionals involved, published in scientific journals and discussed at conferences.
Patient and public involvement: Parents met regularly to help design our planning tool and we keep in regular contact to discuss all aspects of our work.
Conclusions and future plans: The planning tool has the potential to work so we will apply for more funding to do an implementation study.REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/0445
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion