Safe Sleep Education Blitz: A Pre-Post Survey Study.

Abstract

In response to ongoing concerns about Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants, a targeted safe sleep education package which adopted Aboriginal culturally appropriate language was delivered to health professionals working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. This initiative accompanied the rollout of the Pēpi-Pod as a culturally responsive safe sleep alternative. The aim of this study was to conduct a safe sleep education blitz to health professionals to evaluate the effectiveness of the education blitz in enhancing clinical knowledge of safe sleep practices. Surveys were administered to health professionals both before and after the education blitz to assess changes in knowledge and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The mean knowledge score increased from 8.6 (SD = 2.56) pre-intervention to 9.5 (SD = 1.22) post-intervention, indicating a positive trend in knowledge acquisition. However, this improvement was not statistically significant. The most notable improvement was seen in responses to the question, "What weakens a baby's arousal response?" where correct answers increased from 83% pre-intervention to 100% post-intervention. The education blitz proved to be promising in enhancing safe sleep knowledge and increasing awareness of the Pēpi-Pod Program as a safe sleep alternative. While health and care professionals demonstrated a high level of understanding, particularly regarding infant arousal and breathing physiology, further improvement could be achieved through continued access to the education blitz. Further evaluation with a larger sample size or over longer time frames is required to confirm these findings.