A Protocol to Assist Pediatricians in Making Recommendations for Behavioral Sleep Interventions for Infants with Night-Waking Problems
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Authors
Asch, Noah M.
Issue Date
2017
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
“Pediatricians”,“Infants", "Night Waking","Infant Sleep","Infant Sleep Problems","Behavioral Sleep Medicine"
Alternative Title
Abstract
The literature indicates that pediatricians only receive minimal training and education on infant sleep, sleep problems, and treatment of sleep problems. The literature also suggests that pediatricians recommend behavioral sleep interventions that many parents disagree with and find intolerable due to having to allow their infant to cry for an excessive amount of time. Often noncompliance of a sleep intervention results when there is a disconnect or disagreement between a pediatrician's recommendation and a parent's parenting value or cultural belief. Literature on culture and sleep indicates that the cultural beliefs and practices of parents differ greatly and that pediatricians practicing in the United States should be able to present families with family-centered interventions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The purpose of this project was to first examine the literature to find evidence-based behavioral sleep interventions for infants with night waking sleep problems. Once the literature review was conducted, the second part of this project was to design a decision tree of the evidence-based behavioral sleep interventions. This decision tree's purpose is to assist pediatricians in making recommendations for behavioral sleep interventions that are more time effective, culturally sensitive, and family centered. After the initial decision tree was created, a modified Delphi methodology was used to collect qualitative data. The decision tree was presented to six experts in the field of pediatric healthcare on Delphi I, and their feedback was collected. Delphi II contained experts' responses to Delphi I and comments from experts for some items. Following Delphi II, the final decision tree was developed based on all feedback gathered from the experts. A large version of the front and back of the final decision tree can be found in the supplementary files.