Impact of a Neonatal-Bereavement-Support DVD on Grief

January 6, 2025 updated by: Washington University School of Medicine

End-of-Life Care in the NICU: Does Bereavement Support Make a Difference?

Experts agree that neonatal death has long-term impact on parents. Many parents experience sadness, pain, anger, bouts of crying, and a depressed mood after the death of a child. There are no prospective studies that evaluate the effectiveness of bereavement management and follow-up on the grief process following the death of a newborn. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) bereavement support program and the use of a newly designed family-centered bereavement DVD. This educational DVD includes personal interviews with parents, grandparents and siblings who have experienced the lost of a baby in the NICU.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The care given to a family before and following a neonatal loss can set the stage for a family's entire grieving process. For many parents, the support they receive from health care providers after the loss of a baby may have crucial effects on the family's ability to appropriately respond. It is essential for nurses, practitioners, physicians, and chaplains to provide compassionate care that meets or exceeds parents' expectations. However, supporting families following the death of an infant is particularly challenging. There is limited bereavement intervention guidance in the literature that may benefit grieving parents. Follow-up care is a crucial part of bereavement management of families whose babies have died. The bereavement committee at St. Louis Children's Hospital (SLCH) is a multi-disciplinary team, which includes representation from neonatal nurses and nurse practitioners, neonatologists, social workers, chaplains, patient-care associates, and former bereaved parents. Their role is to assist families both at the time of an infant's death and in securing their baby's personal belongings after the family leaves the hospital. In addition to receiving bereavement materials, which is considered standard-practice of care in the NICU at SLCH following the death of an infant, half of the parents enrolled in the study will be prospectively randomized to receive the educational bereavement DVD entitled 'Grieving in the NICU- Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies Too Soon'.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

107

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
        • Washington University School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At least 18 years of age
  • Any parent who has experienced the death of a baby in the NICU at SLCH or has had a baby treated in the NICU who has died at home with hospice care

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Babies who are at home longer than one month with hospice care will be excluded
  • Those who are not English speaking or who are illiterate

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: DVD Intervention Arm
Half of the parents will be prospectively randomized to receive the educational bereavement DVD entitled 'Grieving in the NICU- Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies Too Soon'. A specific aim of the study is to evaluate the additional benefit of the Bereavement DVD over standard bereavement care in reducing parents' grief by comparing level of grief at each time point between the intervention (DVD) and control (no DVD) group.
Other: DVD Intervention Arm
Half of the parents will be prospectively randomized to receive the educational bereavement DVD entitled 'Grieving in the NICU- Mending Broken Hearts When a Baby Dies Too Soon'. A specific aim of the study is to evaluate the additional benefit of the Bereavement DVD over standard bereavement care in reducing parents' grief by comparing level of grief at each time point between the intervention (DVD) and control (no DVD) group.
No Intervention: Standard Bereavement Care
Those randomized to control group (no DVD) Standard Bereavement Care Arm receive the bereavement materials given to families as standard-practice of care in the NICU at SLCH following the death of an infant

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Parental Grief
Time Frame: 3 and 12 months following death of a newborn
To characterize and describe changes in grief at 3 months and 12 months in a cohort of parents who have experienced death of a newborn infant in the NICU.
3 and 12 months following death of a newborn

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive Mood Symptoms
Time Frame: 3 and 12 months following death of a newborn
To characterize and describe changes in depressive mood symptoms at 3 months and 12 months in a cohort of parents who have experienced death of a newborn infant in the NICU.
3 and 12 months following death of a newborn

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Washington University School of Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

August 9, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 16, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 16, 2013

First Posted (Estimated)

August 20, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 201108060
  • P30CA091842 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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