Background: Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a preventable form of child abuse.
Objective: This project used a mixed method design to assess the feasibility of the Calm Baby Gently educational baby book intervention for promoting safe practices related to infant crying in an effort to prevent AHT.
Participants and setting: Three pediatric practices participated between June 2016 and January 2018, including 1045 caregivers who attended their infant's 2-month well-child visit.
Methods: Pediatric providers gave the educational baby book to caregivers at the 1-month well-child visit. Caregivers completed a survey at the 2-month well-child visit on their use and satisfaction with the book and responses to infant crying. Thematic analysis of qualitative feedback was performed. Responses to infant crying were compared quantitatively between caregivers who had and had not read the book.
Results: Of the 819 caregivers (78%) who received the book, 92% (754) read it, and 51% (421) had another caregiver read it. Caregivers considered the book approachable, understandable, validating, and helpful for improving knowledge and skills related to infant crying. The book was rated more helpful by caregivers of younger age, male gender, and non-white race. Controlling for age, gender, and race, caregivers who read the book were more confident (p = 0.033) and had more knowledge on how to respond appropriately to infant crying (p = 0.019) than caregivers who had not read it.
Conclusions: Calm Baby Gently is a feasible and well-received AHT prevention program. Randomized controlled trials are needed to better understand its impact on knowledge, behavior, and AHT rates.
Keywords: AHT; Child abuse; Non-accidental; Prevention; SBS; Shaken baby syndrome.
Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.