Caregivers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Implementation of Awake Infant Prone Positioning

Abstract

This study employed a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of the caregivers of infants born at full term. Three hundred for forty-one surveys were distributed, and 102 were returned (30% return rate). Fifteen were excluded for reasons including the infant being too old and the consent form not being properly completed. In total, 87 usable surveys were entered for data analysis. The majority of respondents had heard about “tummy time” before taking the survey, and the majority felt confident with their tummy time knowledge and implementation. However, approximately 25% of the caregivers did not begin to implement awake prone positioning in the newborn stage in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatric (AAP) recommendation (AAP, 2008), placing infants at risk for negative sequelae. We found that participants’ general knowledge of awake infant prone positioning was not positively correlated with the implementation of infant prone time. Caregivers receiving information from professional sources as compared to casual sources did not have higher knowledge of infant prone positioning. The findings of this study suggest a role for service providers in helping to increase specific knowledge about the implementation of awake prone positioning among expecting parents and parents of young infants.

Keywords:

• infant
• parenting
• patient positioning