Effectiveness of using an educational video simulating the anatomical mechanism of shaking and smothering in a home-visit program to prevent self-reported infant abuse: A population-based quasi-experimental study in Japan.

BACKGROUND

A video that simulates the anatomical mechanism of shaking the infant head, which may have a stronger impact on the viewer, and a tool to prevent self-reported smothering in response to crying, has never been investigated.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether watching an educational video at home visit at 2 months postpartum on infant crying and the dangers of shaking and smothering reduces self-reported shaking and smothering behaviors at 4 months postpartum.

METHOD: In a quasi-experimental study in A city in Japan, the video intervention was implemented at home visits by a midwife, public health nurse or trained volunteers when babies were 2 months old. At the 4-month health checkup, participants received a questionnaire about the video, self-reported shaking and smothering behaviors and other covariates. The impacts of watching the video and self-reported shaking or smothering were analyzed using multiple logistic regression.

RESULTS

In total, 5961 caregivers provided valid response for this study (valid response rate: 73.8 %). In the adjusted model, those who watched the video were 74 % less likely to shake their infants (odds ratio (OR): 0.36, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.21-0.64), 43 % were less likely to smother their infants (OR: 0.57, 95 % CI: 0.37-0.89), 52 % were less likely to shake or smother (OR: 0.48, 95 % CI: 0.33-0.69) their infants.

CONCLUSION

The educational video on infant crying and the dangers of shaking and smothering, with anatomical mechanism of shaking, may halve the risk of self-reported shaking and smothering at 4 months of age.