What is it about?
Indicators of stress during the neonatal period should be identified and managed by environmental strategies that support the biobehavioral self-regulation of the neonates to minimize the negative impacts of stress on development. Since the publication by Als, “A Synactive Model of Neonatal Behavioral Organization,” efforts have been made to implement strategies that promote broad care for neonates who are hospitalized in the NICU. This systematic review assessed the impact of developmental care approaches on indicators of stress in preterm neonates who were admitted to the NICU.
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Why is it important?
There is growing interest in identifying and developing developmental care approaches that minimize indicators of stress in preterm neonates who are admitted to the NICU. Our results showed that no consensus has been reached regarding the most appropriate measures of assessment of these indicators. The developmental care approaches that were reviewed herein are mostly in the exploratory stage, with little methodological convergence. Skin-to-skin contact was the only intervention that resulted in comparable beneficial effects, followed by massage therapy.
Perspectives
Writing this systematic review was very important because we identified the need for further studies that incorporate the assessment of both physiological and behavioral measures of neonatal stress and consider impacts on the autonomic, motor, attentional, and interaction systems. It is important that the developmental care approaches that have been investigated should be further validated clinically in NICUs based on scientific evidence.
Claudia Gaspardo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Developmental care approaches for mitigating stress in preterm neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit: A systematic review., Psychology & Neuroscience, June 2018, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pne0000119.
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