Health-related quality of life of very preterm infants at 1 year of age after two developmental care-based interventions

The uses of outcome measures within multidisciplinary early childhood intervention services: a systematic review

Purpose of the article: To review the use of outcome measures, across the domains of activity, participation, and environment, within multidisciplinary early childhood intervention services.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A systematic literature search was undertaken that included four electronic databases: Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library and Cochrane Database of Systematic Review. Inclusion criteria were age 0-24 months, having or at risk of a developmental disability, in receipt of multidisciplinary early childhood intervention services, and included outcome measures across all domains of the International Classification of Functioning-Child & Youth (ICF-CY). Only peer-reviewed journal articles were considered. Eligible studies were coded using the Oxford Levels of Evidence. Methodological quality was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Scale for randomised controlled trials and the QualSyst for non-randomised control trials.

RESULTS

Of the total of 5764 records identified, 10 were considered to meet inclusion criteria.

CONCLUSION

Fourteen outcome measures were identified, addressing the domains of activity, participation, and environment. Of these, eight have been recommended in the early intervention literature. While the methodological quality of the 10 studies varied, these papers make a contribution to the body of research that acknowledges the role of routine and enriched environments. Implications for Rehabilitation Core practice elements of multidisciplinary early childhood intervention services indicate it is necessary to select outcome measures framed within the International Classification of Functioning-Child & Youth to inform clinical decision-making for measuring intervention effectiveness across the domains of activity, participation and environment. Of the identified measures, three (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, and Goal Attainment Scaling) are well-established and identified in the literature as multidisciplinary outcome measures for children with developmental disability. The selection of an appropriate outcome measure depends on the age of the child, individual goals of the family, and the type of intervention. This requires the combination of measures as no one measure alone will capture all components of the International Classification of Functioning-Child & Youth.

A Narrative Synthesis of the Components of and Evidence for Patient- and Family-Centered Care

A narrative synthesis was conducted to determine typical patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) components and their link to outcomes in pediatric populations. 68 studies with PFCC interventions and experimental designs were included. Study features were synthesized based on 5 core PFCC components (i.e., education from the provider to the patient and/or family, information sharing from the family to the provider, social-emotional support, adapting care to match family background, and/or s decision-making) and 4 outcome categories (health status; the experience, knowledge, and attitudes of the patient/family; patient/family behavior; or provider behavior). The most common PFCC component was education; the least common was adapting care to family background. The presence of social-emotional support alone, as well as educational interventions augmented with shared decision-making, social-emotional support, or adaptations of care based on family background, predicted improvements in families' knowledge, attitudes, and experience. Interventions that targeted the family were associated with positive outcomes.

NIDCAP: a systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The "synactive" theory of neurobehavioral development forms the basis of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP). Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of NIDCAP in improving outcomes in preterm infants.

METHODS

Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PsychInfo, The Cochrane Library, Pediatric Academic Societies' Abstracts and Web of Science were searched in July 2010 and February 2012. The studies selected were randomized controlled trials testing the effectiveness of NIDCAP on medical and neurodevelopmental outcomes. The authors abstracted baseline characteristics of infants and outcomes. The risk of bias was assessed by using Cochrane criteria. RevMan 5.1 was used to synthesize data by the use of relative risk and risk difference for dichotomous outcomes and mean or standardized mean difference for continuous outcomes.

RESULTS

Eleven primary and 7 secondary studies enrolling 627 neonates were included, with 2 of high quality. The composite primary outcomes of death or major sensorineural disability at 18 months corrected age or later in childhood (3 trials, 302 children; relative risk 0.89 [95% confidence interval 0.61 to 1.29]) and survival free of disability at 18 months corrected age or later in childhood (2 trials, 192 infants; relative risk 0.97 [95% confidence interval 0.69 to 1.35]), were not significantly different between the NIDCAP and control groups. With the sensitivity analysis that excluded the 2 statistically heterogeneous outlying studies, there were no significant differences between groups for short-term medical outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

This systematic review including 627 preterm infants did not find any evidence that NIDCAP improves long-term neurodevelopmental or short-term medical outcomes.