Parental knowledge reduces long term anxiety induced by false-positive test results after newborn screening for cystic fibrosis

Background: False-positive screening results in newborn screening for cystic fibrosis may lead to parental stress, family relationship problems and a changed perception of the child's health. Aim of the study: To evaluate whether parental anxiety induced by a false positive screening result disappears after six months and to assess whether a...

Ervaringen met ontwikkelingsgerichte zorg voor te vroeg geboren kinderen in een Nederlandse setting [Experience with developmental care for children born preterm in a Dutch setting]

Objective and design. The Leiden Developmental Care Project explored the effects of the basic elements of developmental care (DC: the use of incubator covers and nests) and the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) with individual behavior observations for very premature infants less than 32 weeks of gestation...

Health-related quality of life of very preterm infants at 1 year of age after two developmental care-based interventions

Background: In the context of a growing interest in developmental care (DC) this study explores the effect of the basic elements of DC and the additional effect of the individual approach of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of very preterm infants at 1...

Ethnic variation in infant-feeding practices in the Netherlands and Weight Gain at 4 months

This prospective study of 4438 infants (0-4 months) examined differences in infant-feeding patterns in relation to the ethnic origin of their mothers, based on the mother's native language: Dutch (87%), Turkish (4%), Moroccan (3%), other European languages (3%), and various other languages (4%). Breastfeeding at birth varied between 75% and 94%....

Staff opinions regarding the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP)

This study explored the opinions of (para)medical and nursing staff in two Dutch Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU's). A questionnaire was used that measured: a) the perceived impact of NIDCAP on several NICU conditions, b) attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, knowledge and abilities of using the NIDCAP method (based on...

Catch-up growth up to ten years of age in children born very preterm or with very low birth weight

Background: Improved survival due to advances in neonatal care has brought issues such as postnatal growth and development more to the focus of our attention. Most studies report stunting in children born very preterm and/or small for gestational age. In this article we study the growth pattern of these children and aim to identify factors...

The effect of small peer group continuous quality improvement on the clinical practice of midwives in The Netherlands

Objective: To study the effects of small group continuous quality improvement (CQI) on the clinical practice of midwives in the Netherlands. Design: Randomised pre-/post-test (balanced block). Intervention: The CQI groups were assigned to either the set of peer review topics including 'perineal repair' and 'artificial rupture of the membranes ...

Suboptimal care and perinatal mortality in ten European regions: Methodology and evaluation of an international audit

Background: A European concerted action (the EuroNatal study) investigated differences in perinatal mortality between countries of Europe. This report describes the methods used in the EuroNatal international audit and discusses the validity of the results. Methods: Perinatal deaths between 1993 and 1998 in regions of ten European countries were...

Selecting an indicator set for monitoring and evaluating perinatal health in Europe: Criteria, methods and results from the PERISTAT project

The PERISTAT project was charged with developing an indicator set for monitoring and describing perinatal health in Europe as part of the European Commission's Health Monitoring Programme, run by the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG-SANCO), which is working towards the establishment of a comprehensive health monitoring...

Indicators of fetal and infant health outcomes

Objective: To assess the ability of the member states of the European Union to produce the indicators recommended by the PERISTAT project on perinatal health indicators and to provide an overview of fetal and infant health outcomes for these countries according to the information now available. Methods: We used data from the PERISTAT survey of...

Prevalence of passive smoking in infancy in the Netherlands

The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of passive smoking in infancy. This was done by self-report questionnaires completed by parents who attended the well-baby clinic in the period February-May 1996. A total of 2720 questionnaires were spread among parents with babies between 1 and 14 months: smoking and non-smoking parents....

Evaluation of care for the preterm infant: Review of literature on follow-up of preterm and low birthweight infants : Report from the collaborative Project On Preterm and Small for gestational age infants (POPS) in The Netherlands

Since the introduction of neonatal intensive care in the 1960s, mortality in very preterm and very low birthweight infants has been decreasing steadily. Consequently, interest in the outcome of surviving infants is growing. Restriction of health care resources has stressed the need for information concerning the effect of individual treatment...

Perinatale registratie: Een proefonderzoek naar koppeling gegevens uit de Landelijke Verloskunde Registratie en de Landelijke Neonatalogie Registratie [Linking Dutch Perinatal Registration Systems]