Reading picture books aloud to help stabilize preterm babies and ease parent anxiety

The Effectiveness of Parental Reading Picture-book Intervention on Cardiopulmonary Stability, Hospitalization Anxiety and Parent-Child Attachment Relationship With Premature Infants

This trial will test whether parents reading picture books to their preterm infants in the NICU helps stabilize babies' heart and breathing rates, lowers parental anxiety, and improves parent-child attachment.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 88 (estimated)
• Ages: 28 Weeks to 37 Weeks
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Taipei, Beitou)
• Trial ID: NCT06854549 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This randomized controlled trial will enroll 88 preterm infants and at least one parent at a medical center in northern Taiwan and randomly assign pairs to a picture-book reading intervention or usual care. Parents in the intervention group will read picture books to their infants from a corrected gestational age of 28 weeks until 36 weeks and 6 days. Researchers will record infant physiological measures (heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and heart rate variability) and collect parental anxiety and attachment measures at multiple time points. Outcomes in the reading group will be compared with the control group to see if the intervention improves infant cardiopulmonary stability and parent psychological outcomes.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Preterm infants born between 28+0 and 36+6 weeks who have been transferred out of the incubator and passed newborn hearing screening, with at least one parent who can read Chinese and communicate in Mandarin, are eligible.

Not a fit: Infants receiving sedatives, hypnotics, or caffeine therapy or those with external ear abnormalities, and parents with auditory or speech impairments or who cannot read Chinese/communicate in Mandarin, are unlikely to benefit or be eligible.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, the intervention could improve infants' cardiopulmonary stability, reduce parents' hospitalization anxiety, and strengthen early parent-child attachment.

How similar studies have performed: Related interventions using parental voice or music have shown promising effects on preterm infant stability and parental anxiety, but picture-book reading as a structured intervention is less well studied.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* Preterm Infants:

  1. Born between 28+0 and 36+6 weeks of gestation.
  2. Transferred out of the incubator as per medical advice.
  3. Passed the newborn hearing screening in both ears.
* Parents of Preterm Infants:

  1. Able to read and comprehend Chinese-language materials.
  2. Capable of communicating in Mandarin.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Preterm Infants:

  1. Presence of external ear abnormalities.
  2. Receiving sedatives, hypnotics, or caffeine therapy.
* Parents of Preterm Infants:

  1. Having auditory or speech impairments.

Where this trial is running

Taipei, Beitou

• Taipei Veterans General Hospital — Taipei, Beitou, Taiwan (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Study coordinator: CHI-WEN CHEN, PhD

Conditions Effects of Parent-Child Reading on Preterm Infant Stability, Parental Anxiety, and Parent-Child Attachment; Reading Picture-book; Premature Infants; Hospitalization anxiety; Cardiopulmonary stability; parent-child attachment relationship