Preventing Vulnerable Child Syndrome in the NICU With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PreVNT Trial)

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The intervention group will receive standard NICU and follow up care information plus a total of 5 CBT sessions split between the NICU and outpatient clinic visits post discharge from NICU. The CBT sessions will address PPCV in parents and parenting skills to address this. The CBT sessions will be standardized with a manual for study investigators to follow during sessions, and made with Dr. Richard Shaw from Stanford University, who wrote the prior CBT manual for anxiety, depression, and PTSD for NICU parents. Study staff will be trained to give the standardized CBT sessions using the manual via pilot sessions. There will be 3 CBT sessions given in the Parkland NICU before discharge and then 2 in the THRIVE follow up clinic at Children's Medical Center after discharge from the NICU.

mean value score Vulnerable Baby Scale (VBSc) Score

Time frame: difference in the mean value score of the VBSc scores of parents at baseline of the study (33 weeks post-menstrual age) versus at six to nine months of post-birth age

Measures parental perceptions of child vulnerability. It has been used for parents with infants as young as 10-12 weeks of age up through 6 months to a year old. It is a 10 question scale, with each question scored on a five point likert scale (1-5). Score range is 10-50. Maximum score of 50 possible. A score of 27 or more was the median score for a sample of medically fragile neonates, and signifies relatively high perceptions of vulnerability. While a score of 23 was the median for a sample of healthy controls and thus reflect a more normal perception of vulnerability (Kerruish et al 2005). The higher the score, the higher the perception of child vulnerability.

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