Differences in African-American Maternal Self-Efficacy Regarding Practices Impacting Risk for Sudden Infant Death.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related deaths, including accidental suffocation, account for ~4000 US deaths annually. Parents may have higher self-efficacy with regards to preventing accidental suffocation than SIDS. The objective of this study was to assess self-efficacy in African-American mothers with regards to safe sleep practices and risk for SIDS and accidental suffocation. As part of randomized clinical trial in African-American mothers of newborn infants, mothers completed a baseline survey about knowledge of and attitudes towards safe sleep recommendations, current intent, self-efficacy, and demographics. Tabular and adjusted, regression-based analyses of these cross-sectional data evaluated the impact of the message target (SIDS risk reduction vs. suffocation prevention) on perceived self-efficacy. 1194 mothers were interviewed. Mean infant age was 1.5 days. 90.8 % of mothers planned to place their infant supine, 96.7 % stated that their infant would sleep in the same room, 3.6 % planned to bedshare with the infant, and 72.9 % intended to have soft bedding in the crib. Mothers were more likely to believe that prone placement (70.9 vs. 50.5 %, p < 0.001), bedsharing (73.5 vs. 50.1 %, p < 0.001), and having soft bedding in the sleep area (78.3 vs. 59.5 %, p < 0.001) increased their infant's risk for suffocation than it did for SIDS. Mothers had higher self-efficacy, viz. increased confidence that their actions could keep their infant safe, with regards to suffocation than SIDS (88.0 vs. 79.4 %, p < 0.001). These differences remained significant when controlled for sociodemographics, grandmother in home, number of people in home, and breastfeeding intention. Maternal self-efficacy is higher with regards to prevention of accidental suffocation in African-Americans, regardless of sociodemographics. Healthcare professionals should discuss both SIDS risk reduction and prevention of accidental suffocation when advising African-American parents about safe sleep practices.
Division of General Pediatrics and Community Health, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA.
Anita
A
Mathews
Division of General Pediatrics and Community Health, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA.
Rosalind
R
Oden
Division of General Pediatrics and Community Health, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA.
Brandi
B
Joyner
Children's National Medical Center, Children's Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
Jianping
J
He
Children's National Medical Center, Children's Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
Robert
R
McCarter
Division of General Pediatrics and Community Health, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA. rmoon@cnmc.org.|Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA. rmoon@cnmc.org.
Rachel Y
RY
Moon
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
African–American; Disparity; SIDS; Self-efficacy; Suffocation