The Upstate New York Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) Prevention Program

 Background

Program Goals:

To provide educational materials about SBS t parents of every new infant in Western New York; to verify parents’ comprehension of the dangers of violent infant shaking; to track the distribution of information through the collection of the returned commitment statements; to evaluate the program’s effect on the regional incidence of SBS

Intent:

Intentional

Risk Factors Addressed:

Lack of knowledge about the harms of shaking a baby

Place of occurrence:

Home environment

Age/Age Range:

Parents and care-givers of newborns

Other Population Characteristics:

Fatigue, frustration, inability to deal with crying infant, lack of knowledge about newborns

Resources

Year Developed:

1998

Collaborative Organization(s):

Children’s Hospital of Buffalo
Strong Children’s Hospital, Rochester
State University of New York at Buffalo
University of Rochester 

Funding Resource(s):

New York State Office of Children and Family Services
William B. Hoyt Memorial Children and Family Trust Fund
Funding from grants and participating hospitals provided more than 450 $US in funds and in kind donations
Educational material developed from Dr. Dias’ own research 

Implementation

Context/Setting:

Hospitals

Strategies Used:

Education, Enactment

Activities Used:

Hospitals in different areas phased in over time to a total of 17 counties with participating hospitals
Project coordinators work with nurse managers to distribute and collect project material and data
Maternity ward nurses trained to deliver program material
Parents asked to confirm receiving materials and to commit to follow-up phone call about materials 

Program Evaluation:

Dissemination of program materials tracked using the returned commitment statements; the 7- month follow-up calls provide research data on parents’ recollection and retention of program information; clearly defined, quantifiable outcome measures enable program staff to assess the effectiveness of the program in reducing the incidence of inflicted infant head neurotrauma

Source of Best Practice:

Volpe, R. & Lewko, J. (2004). Preventing Neurotrauma: A Casebook of Evidence-Based Practices. Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.

Original Source:

Caffey, J. (1972). On the theory and practice of shaking infants. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 124 (2), 161-169.

Local Example(s):

Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program

Contact Information: 

Dr. Mark S. Dias
Pediatric Neurosurgeon
Penn State University
Milton S. Hershey Medical Centre
850 University Drive
Hershey, PA  17033 USA
Tel: (717) 531-8807
Email: mdias@psu.edu 

Outcomes

Long-term outcomes/Effectiveness:

Replication in Central Pennsylvania
New York passes an SBS law 

Short-term outcomes:

The average annual incidence of inflicted infant neurotrauma has decreased from 7.0 to 2.2 cases per year

Other child abuse statistics suggest that the dramatic and temporal drop in shaken baby syndrome cases in Western New York can be directly attributed to the Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Program

Other

Date of Review:

2004

Classification:

Best Practice