Impact of a Neonatal-Bereavement-Support DVD on Grief

The Washington University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depressive Symptoms; Grief

Treatments: Other: DVD Intervention Arm

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01926080

201108060

P30CA091842 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Experts agree that neonatal death has long-term impact on parents. Many parents experience sadness, pain, anger, bouts of crying, and a depressed mood after the death of a child. There are no prospective studies that evaluate the effectiveness of bereavement management and follow-up on the grief process following the death of a newborn. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) bereavement support program and the use of a newly designed family-centered bereavement DVD. This educational DVD includes personal interviews with parents, grandparents and siblings who have experienced the lost of a baby in the NICU.

Full description

The care given to a family before and following a neonatal loss can set the stage for a family's entire grieving process. For many parents, the support they receive from health care providers after the loss of a baby may have crucial effects on the family's ability to appropriately respond. It is essential for nurses, practitioners, physicians, and chaplains to provide compassionate care that meets or exceeds parents' expectations. However, supporting families following the death of an infant is particularly challenging. There is limited bereavement intervention guidance in the literature that may benefit grieving parents. Follow-up care is a crucial part of bereavement management of families whose babies have died. The bereavement committee at St. Louis Children's Hospital (SLCH) is a multi-disciplinary team, which includes representation from neonatal nurses and nurse practitioners, neonatologists, social workers, chaplains, patient-care associates, and former bereaved parents. Their role is to assist families both at the time of an infant's death and in securing their baby's personal belongings after the family leaves the hospital. In addition to receiving bereavement materials, which is considered standard-practice of care in the NICU at SLCH following the death of an infant, half of the parents enrolled in the study will be prospectively randomized to receive the educational bereavement DVD entitled 'Grieving in the NICU- Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies Too Soon'.

Enrollment: 107 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• At least 18 years of age
• Any parent who has experienced the death of a baby in the NICU at SLCH or has had a baby treated in the NICU who has died at home with hospice care

Exclusion criteria

• Babies who are at home longer than one month with hospice care will be excluded
• Those who are not English speaking or who are illiterate

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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107 participants in 2 patient groups

DVD Intervention Arm

Other group

Description:

Half of the parents will be prospectively randomized to receive the educational bereavement DVD entitled 'Grieving in the NICU- Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies Too Soon'. A specific aim of the study is to evaluate the additional benefit of the Bereavement DVD over standard bereavement care in reducing parents' grief by comparing level of grief at each time point between the intervention (DVD) and control (no DVD) group.

Treatment:

Other: DVD Intervention Arm

Standard Bereavement Care

No Intervention group

Description:

Those randomized to control group (no DVD) Standard Bereavement Care Arm receive the bereavement materials given to families as standard-practice of care in the NICU at SLCH following the death of an infant