Development and effectiveness of an educational program on developmental positioning for neonatal intensive care unit nurses in South Korea: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Purpose This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program on developmental positioning (EPDP) for nurses in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Methods The study utilized a non-equivalent control group pretestposttest design. Sixty NICU nurses were recruited from two university hospitals in Daejeon, South Korea. The EPDP consisted of a 7-week program: 3 weeks of education and practice, followed by 4 weeks of encouragement messages using social networking services. Developmental positioning (DP) posters and DP aids were also provided during the intervention period. The intervention group (n=30) received the EPDP, but not the control group. The data were analyzed using the x2 test, the Fisher exact test, the independent t-test, and repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results Participants' knowledge (t=7.49, p<.001), attitudes (t=1.99, p=.001), self-efficacy (t=2.99, p=.004), performance of DP (t=2.98, p=.004) and Infant Positioning Assessment Tool (IPAT) scores (F=29.50, p<.001) were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. Conclusion The EPDP can be an effective and useful program for improving the performance of DP among NICU nurses by increasing their knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of DP. However, further research involving various NICU settings is needed to gather more empirical evidence.

Keywords

• education
• intensive care unit, neonatal
• nurses
• patient positioning
• infants, premature