Fisher, S. (2020). IMPLEMENTING INTERVENTIONS IN A HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOR SAFE SLEEP PRACTICES FOR INFANTS. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
Safe infant sleep is a national public health concern accounting for approximately 350 deaths from Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID) in the United States annually. SUID is a term used to describe the sudden unexpected death of an infant up to 12 months of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends a safe sleep environment to eliminate all sleep-related infant deaths. Interventions implemented by health care providers can promote behavior change of caregivers to achieve the goals of improving sleep safety for infants. Evidence indicates that many nurses report a lack of knowledge, time, and confidence when providing safe sleep guidance. A public health focus on safe sleep interventions in a population health-based program could directly improve health outcomes while enhancing staff education. The purpose of this project was to implement interventions to increase the knowledge, confidence, and skills of public health case management staff regarding safe-sleep practices for infants. The interventions included (a) implementation and examination of a didactic educational intervention and (b) focus groups using case studies for role-play to enhance skills. A pre- and post-test design was used to measure a change in knowledge, confidence, and skills. Focus group analysis was used to measure acquisition of confidence and skills through measuring role-play and discussion at the end of the program. This project demonstrated that education and role-playing led to an increase in knowledge, confidence, and skills among public health providers regarding safe sleep.
