P2C114: The Impact of Visual Aids on Parental Anxiety and Understanding During Prenatal Consults for Prematurity Between 22-32 Weeks’ Gestation

Background: Prenatal consultations are often the first contact between the parents whose infant might require admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the infant’s medical team. These consults allow the neonatologists to discuss prenatal findings and develop rapport with the parents while explaining potential short- and long-term complications for their infant. Factors such as maternal labor, medications, and time of day can contribute to poor comprehension and increased anxiety during these consultations, which involve parents who are often already in a highly stressful situation. While we know that written material and/or visuals can enhance knowledge acquisition, it is currently uncommon for providers to utilize such materials during prenatal consults. The objective of this study is to determine whether visual aids (compared with no visual aids) during prenatal consults for prematurity alleviates parental anxiety and improves their perception of understanding prematurity complications.

Methods: Gravid women between 22-32 weeks’ gestation who received prenatal consultation by the NICU were randomized to consults with or without visual aids. Mothers and partners (if applicable) completed pre-post consult surveys to assess their pre-post anxiety state and their perceived knowledge of potential complications associated with prematurity. Demographic and clinical information was collected from all participants. Changes in anxiety state and knowledge of prematurity complications were assessed using the paired sample t-test.

Results: This ongoing study has a planned enrollment of 70 patients. To date, 47 subjects (34 mothers and 13 fathers) have completed the study. Preliminary analysis shows demographics between the two groups were not significantly different except for ethnicity. The pre-post change in composite anxiety score and knowledge of length of stay was significantly greater in the visual aid group (p = 0.03 and < 0.001, respectively) compared to no visual aid (p = 0.09 and 0.22, respectively).

Conclusion: Supplementing prenatal consults for prematurity with visual aids may decrease parental anxiety when compared to standard consultation without visual aids. However, the effect of visual aids on parental knowledge remains unclear. These findings are preliminary pending completion of enrollment and subsequent analysis.