NCT04922242

Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) in the NICU

Assessing the Efficacy and Validity of the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) in the NICU

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 193 (actual)
• Sponsor: Columbia University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to assess knowledge about emotional connection, attitude about relational health, and efficacy of Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) training in the NICU. The investigators seek to discern if through this didactic training, frontline NICU clinicians can be taught to reliably use the WECS to rate parent-child relational health. Additionally, the investigators seek to learn if there is construct and theoretical validity of the hospitalized infant preterm WECS by correlating WECS scores to physiological, behavioral and mental health markers for parent and infant.

Detailed description

The Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) is an investigational developmental screening tool that was developed to rate the quality of the emotional connection that formed between mother and child. When administered at 4 months of age, the scale has predictive value in determining which children will show higher risk for developmental problems at 18 months of age. The scale is administered in 2-3 minutes by observing a brief interaction between mother and child and requires the rater to critically assess 4 domains of emotional connection. The present study will introduce an educational module for teaching NICU clinicians to critically observe mother-child interactions through use of a standardized didactic experience and structured use of the brief clinical screening tool, the WECS, and the theories around nurturing and emotional connection. In one module training session, participants will view a pre-recorded webinar on the WECS developed by the Nurture Science Program at Columbia University. During the second part of the training, participants will view and rate a set of pre-recorded parent-child interactions using the WECS. Clinicians will complete a survey and participate in a focus group discussion about their experiences with the training process and utility of the WECS in clinical practice. Determining if the WECS can be used easily and reliably by NICU clinicians will help to create new strategies that better meet the needs of all professionals involved in NICU care, as well as the families they serve.

Conditions

• Premature Birth
• Obstetric Labor, Premature

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Welch Emotional Connection Screen for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit	The Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) is an investigational developmental screening tool, developed to rate the quality of the emotional connection that formed between mother and child. The screen is administered in 2-3 minutes by observing a mother and child interact, and requires the rater to critically assess 4 sub-domains of emotional connection. The NICU WECS is a clinical tool adapted for use with neonates in the NICU. Reliability of NICU staff WECS scoring will be calculated via intra-class correlations with key scores. The WECS is scored on intervals of 0.5, with a minimum of 1 (rarely--low level of connection) and maximum of 3 (mostly--high connection). Scores are used to determine the level of need for intervention.
OTHER	NICU WECS Training	WECS Training is an educational module consisting of an introduction of the concepts of emotional connection and autonomic co-regulation as studied by The Nurture Science Program, as well as an illustration of how these experiential constructs differ from traditional care plans that focus on educating parents to encourage "bonding" as opposed to autonomic emotional connection within the NICU. An introduction to the domains of the WECS screen as well as illustrations of these domains through video will augment the training designed for NICU staff.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-04-17
• Primary completion: 2023-02-13
• Completion: 2023-02-13
• First posted: 2021-06-10
• Last updated: 2024-11-21

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States