Acceptability and feasibility of a digital educational intervention designed to improve the psychological well-being of parents with a preterm infant at the neonatal intensive care unit: A pilot project.

BACKGROUND: Families experience psychological distress when their preterm infant is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. A tailored educational intervention may be beneficial for their psychological well-being. Unfortunately, existing websites have moderate to low information quality and there is no educational website for French-speaking parents.

AIM: To measure the acceptability and feasibility of a digital educational intervention designed to improve the psychological well-being of parents with a preterm infant, as well as the acceptability and feasibility of the study methods used.

METHODS: A pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were randomized to have access to either an educational website or information pamphlet. They were invited to complete an online questionnaire about stress and depressive symptoms 2 and 4 weeks after recruitment. An online questionnaire regarding the acceptability of the intervention and the data collection process was completed 5 weeks after recruitment.

RESULTS: Twenty parents participated. All participants with access to the website considered it was acceptable in terms of the appropriateness, convenience, and efficiency to meet their informational needs. 85 % of participants assigned to the website viewed it 1 to 3 times per day during the data collection period and 69.4 % consulted the website for 5 to 20 min each time. The data collection process was acceptable for 85 % to 95 % of participants.

DISCUSSION: The educational website was an acceptable and feasible intervention and the data collection process used was acceptable according to participants.