SIDS Risk Factor Awareness: Assessment Among Nursing Students

Abstract

To test the hypotheses that nursing students (a) have limited knowledge of risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation of placing infants on their backs or sides for sleep, and (b) after careful education about SIDS, would retain this information and teach it to parents. A pretest questionnaire was used to identify knowledge of 13 risk factors and personal recommendation for sleep position. Participants attended a lecture on SIDS and received written educational material. A posttest was completed after 6 weeks. Nursing students were assessed during their family practice course. Fifty-one 4th-year nursing students (mean age 28.4 years, SD=7.6) enrolled in the BSN program completed the pretest; 29 completed the identical posttest. A lecture on SIDS and SIDS risk factors with written educational material after the pretest. Pretest and posttest responses. The Mann-Whitney test and McNemar chi-square analyses were used to determine factors on the pretest which influenced the awareness of prone position and to compare pretest and posttest data. On the pretest, 69% of students were aware of the AAP recommendation but significantly more (92%) were aware on the posttest. Posttest responses increased significantly for 12 of the 13 risk factors; 41% of the students identified all 13 risk factors on the posttest, in contrast to 0% on the pretest. On both the pretest and posttest, 93% of students stated that it was important to discuss their infant's sleep position with parents. Posttest results showed that students unanimously recommend the side or back sleep position. Nursing students were aware of the AAP recommendation, yet their knowledge of other risk factors was limited. A careful educational process resulted in retention of information about the AAP recommendation and other risk factors. In addition, students were willing to teach parents to place their infants on the back or side to sleep.