Practices for respecting the newborn’s sleep-wake cycle: Interventional study in the neonatal intensive care unit

Premature newborns are exposed to a great deal of over-stimulation, which can affect their cerebral development. For better sleep, certain practices should be recommended. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a professional training program on the improvement of practices promoting respect for the newborn’s sleep-wake cycle. This was an interventional study with a longitudinal, single-group, and before-and-after design. The experimental design followed a three-stage time series: Eight months before, three months after, then eight months after intervention. It targeted a comprehensive sample of 66 professionals. It took place between October 2020 and March 2022 at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez, Morocco. It was based on an observation grid and a self-administered questionnaire, validated and tested with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability of 0.91. The light environment showed significant differences between the 1st and 3rd step (3.3% vs. 45.0%; P = 0.02; confidence interval [CI] = 13.644–10.456) for knowledge and (13.3% vs. 78.3%; P = 0.01; CI = 14.412–10.888) for practices; the noise environment showed a positive improvement between the 2nd and 3rd intervention (31.7% vs. 41.7%; P < 0.001; CI = 5.954–2.913) for knowledge and (65.0% vs. 73.3%; P < 0.001; CI = 3.597–1.236) for practices, with an average of (8.98 ± 0.30–28.15 ± 0.48; CI = 3.806–1.094) between the 1st and 3rd step. Practices surrounding sleep and wakefulness reported significant improvement between the three periods (14.35 ± 0.22 vs. 18.10 ± 0.35 vs. 19.90 ± 0.35; P P < 0.001; CI = 4.647–2.853) for sleep and (13.25 ± 0.48 vs. 22.27 ± 0.59; P < 0.001; CI = 10.563–7.471) for wakefulness with statistically significant correlations between knowledge and practices (0.426**) for sleep and (0.606**) for wakefulness. The study demonstrated the positive impact of this sleep management and assessment program on the development of professional skills. Its implementation requires rigorous application of developmental support strategies for individualized care in neonatology.