Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Research Articles

Assess of validity and reliability of Chinese version of Preterm Infant Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale

Objective To assess the reliability and validity of Chinese version of Preterm Infant Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale. Methods The original edition of Preterm Infant Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale was translated from English into Chinese.The Chinese version scale was tested in 154 preterm infants for reliability and validity. Results The Cronbach's α coefficient for the scale was 0.817.The ICC between 2 examiners for the scale was 0.917(P<0.01)and the Spearman rs was 0.927(P<0.01). The structure of the scale was reasonable and the difference whether the premature could start oral bottle-feeding was statistically significant(P=0.000). Area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was 0.858(P=0.000, 95%CI: 0.775-0.941). The sensitivity of the scale was 0.756, and the specificity was 0.800 when a cut of 30 point was set by ROC curve analysis, and the overall cross-validated kappa was 0.387(P=0.000). Therefore, 30 point was suggested as the cut point for preterm infant oral feeding readiness. Conclusions The Chinese version of Preterm Infant Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale has a good reliability and validity and it is a favorable tool to assess whether the premature can start oral bottle-feeding safely. Key words: Preterm Infant Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale; Reliability; Validity; Preterm infant

Clinical validation of the Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale

INTRODUCTION: Health professionals have great difficulties to establish the adequate and safe time to start breast feeding in preterm infants. There is a need to develop a standardized tool to help health professionals to comprehensively evaluate preterm infant readiness to transition preterm infants´ feeding from gastric to oral, and encourage breast feeding practice in neonatal units. Aims: To clinical validate the accuracy of a Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale with 60 clinically stable preterm infants. METHODS: Global accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale cut-offs, compared to milk intake through translactation, were estimated through ROC curves (Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves). RESULTS: The global accuracy of Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale was 74.38%. The highest sensitivity and specificity were obtained for three cut-offs: 28, 29 and 30. Since higher specificity (75.68%) for the Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale was found at a score cut-off=of 30 showed higher specificity (75.68%), it should be used as a cut-off score to select initiate breastfeeding the preterm newborns' oral feeding readiness. CONCLUSION: The Preterm Oral Feeding Readiness Assessment Scale is considered valid to assist health professionals to initiate preterm feeding in view of promoting safe and objective breastfeeding.