Nursery videos effectively educate first-time fathers on infant care

Brief videos shown in the hospital newborn nursery may be an effective way to educate first-time fathers on infant care topics, such as safe sleep, infant crying and car safety, according to a pilot study published in the journal Pediatrics Open Science. These topics were selected as common parental knowledge gaps and successful targets of previous educational interventions for mothers.

"New fathers often report feeling like bystanders in healthcare settings, with parenting supports primarily focused on the mother from pregnancy through the postpartum," said Mikaela Thompson from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who led the study supervised by Craig Garfield, MD, an expert on fathers' role in child development, from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "Our study recognizes the importance of involving fathers in child health, and especially in infant injury prevention, from the very beginning of becoming a father."

Previous research has shown that unintentional injuries, including those related to unsafe sleep, frustration with crying and poor car seat safety, are the leading causes of death in young children.

"The videos in our study on key injury prevention topics are a novel educational intervention soon after infant birth that offers unique opportunities to reach fathers who may not be able to come to infant healthcare visits," explained Dr. Garfield, also Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We show that the newborn nursery is indeed a viable setting for father-focused instruction-fathers may actually be looking for this sort of information at this time."

The study recruited 167 first-time fathers of full-term infants. On enrollment, participants completed an initial survey and viewed brief evidence-based videos that featured a real father and his 2-week-old infant, with educational content presented by a pediatrician or a childhood injury-prevention expert. Participants completed a pre-and post-viewing knowledge survey, and additional knowledge and behavior questions one week and one month after discharge.

Researchers found that fathers' knowledge about safe sleep and infant crying improved significantly after the video intervention, but these gains were not fully sustained post-discharge. Knowledge about the use of a rear-facing car seat was high, with safe riding in the appropriate car seat universal among the study participants.

"Our finding suggests that at-home reinforcement or 'booster sessions' might be needed to maintain learning and support behaviors, especially in the first year," said Dr. Garfield. "Text messaging might help support study retention. In the future, video-based, father-focused intervention could be expanded to other clinical settings, such as the neonatal intensive care unit and well-child visits."

Funding for this project came from an Ascend at the Aspen Institute Impact Grant.