Feasibility of Early Intervention Through Home-Based and Parent-Delivered Infant Massage in Infants at High Risk for Cerebral Palsy

Frontiers in Pediatrics

article

Valentina Menici¹  Giovanni Cioni²  Giuseppina Sgandurra¹  Camilla Antonelli¹  Elena Beani¹  Alessandra Mattiola⁴  Matteo Giampietri⁴  Giada Martini¹  Riccardo Rizzi¹  Alessandra Cecchi⁵  Maria Luce Cioni⁶ 

[1] Department of Developmental Neuroscience;Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa;Tuscan Ph.D. Programme of Neuroscience, University of Florence;Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Pisa University Hospital Santa Chiara;Division of Neonatology, Careggi University Hospital, University of Florence;Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital A. Meyer

关键词: infant massage;    cerebral palsy;    early intervention;    home-based intervention;    family-centered intervention;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fped.2021.673956

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Infant massage (IM) can be considered an early intervention program that leads to the environmental enrichment framework. The effectiveness of IM to promote neurodevelopment in preterm infants has been proved, but studies on infants with early brain damage are still lacking. The main aim of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability and usability of IM, carried out by parents at home, on infants at high risk for Cerebral Palsy. An IM daily diary and an ad hoc questionnaire, called Infant Massage Questionnaire Parent-Infant Experiences (IMQPE), were developed. IMQPE consisted of a total of 30 questions, divided into 5 areas. The parents were trained to carry out the IM with a home-based course, conducted by an expert therapist. The intensive IM program was set according to a defined daily length of at least 20 min, with a frequency of at least 5 days per week for a total of 8 weeks. Data collection consisted in the selection of the variables around the characteristics, both of the infants and the mothers, IM dosage and frequency, different body parts of the infants involved and IMQPE scores. Variable selection was carried out by minimizing the Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) over all possible variable subsets. Nineteen high-risk infants, aged 4.83 ± 1.22 months, received IM at home for 8 weeks. The massage was given by the infants' mothers with a mean daily session dose of 27.79 ± 7.88 min and a total of 21.04 ± 8.49 h. 89.74% and 100% of mothers performed the IM for the minimum daily dosage and the frequency recommended, respectively. All the families filled in the IMQPE, with a Total mean score of 79.59% and of 82.22% in General Information on IM, 76.30% in Infant's intervention-related changes, 76.85% in IM Suitability, 79.07% in Infant's acceptance and 83.52% in Time required for the training. Different best predictors in mothers and in infants have been found. These data provide evidence of the feasibility of performing IM at home on infants at high risk for CP. Study registration: www.clinicaltrial.com ( {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT03211533","term_id":"NCT03211533"}} NCT03211533 and {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT03234959","term_id":"NCT03234959"}} NCT03234959 ).

【 授权许可】

CC BY