Influence of H-HOPE intervention for premature infants on growth, feeding progression and length of stay during initial hospitalization.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether premature infants receiving the maternally administered H-HOPE (Hospital to Home Transition-Optimizing Premature Infant's Environment) intervention had more rapid weight gain and growth, improved feeding progression and reduced length of hospital stay, compared with controls.


METHODS
Premature infants born at 29-34 weeks gestational age and their mothers with at least two social-environmental risk factors were randomly assigned to H-HOPE intervention (n=88) or an attention control (n=94) groups. H-HOPE consists of a 15-min multisensory intervention (Auditory, Tactile, Visual and Vestibular stimuli) performed twice daily prior to feeding plus maternal participatory guidance on preterm infant behavioral cues.


RESULTS
H-HOPE group infants gained weight more rapidly over time than infants in the control group and grew in length more rapidly than control infants, especially during the latter part of the hospital stay.


CONCLUSIONS
For healthy preterm infants, the H-HOPE intervention appears to improve weight gain and length over time from birth to hospital discharge.
1] Department of Women, Children and Family Health Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA [2] Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Children's Research Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
R C
RC
White-Traut
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
K M
KM
Rankin
Department of Women, Children and Family Health Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
J C
JC
Yoder
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
L
L
Liu
1] Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA [2] Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
R
0000000232046930
R
Vasa
Sinai Children's Hospital Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
V
V
Geraldo
Department of Women, Children and Family Health Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
K F
KF
Norr
D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010351:Patient Discharge; D014110:Touch; D000069341:Transitional Care / Q000592:standards*; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*