Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

4-5-2025

Keywords

NICU, early intervention

Comments

Presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) INSPIRE 2025 Annual Conference.

Abstract

Background

Advances in medicine have increased the survival rate of preterm infants. It is well documented that preterm infants have increased risk for developmental delays (Heiny et al., 2020; Pineda et al., 2020) . Additionally, after long stays in the NICU, families report anxiety and feeling unprepared to care for their fragile child at home (Cheong at al., 2020; Garfield et al., 2014; Aloysius et al., 2018; Lakshmanan et al., 2019) . Preterm infants have fewer developmental delays when enrolled in a program that fosters development of skills and provides caregiver education; however, there is often a 4-5 month gap in services between NICU discharge and the start of therapy services through an early intervention program (Heiny et al., 2020, Pineda et al., 2020). Literature supports NICU transition programs to support infants and caregivers while they await the start of community based early intervention services (Heiny et al, 2020, Pineda et al, 2020). Key features of these programs include doing home visits with families, opportunities to communicate with a healthcare provider, and family education and support during this critical time (Heiny et al., 2020; Pineda et al., 2020).

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS