142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

306980
Guiding Sleep: A Cross-National Comparison of Professional Advice to Parents for SIDS Prevention

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Allison Rosenthal , Department of Community Health Sciences - School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Rieko Kishi Fukuzawa, NM, PhD , Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Family Nursing, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Susan Altfeld, PhD , Department of Community Health Sciences - School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Nadine Peacock, PhD , Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Background:  The Public Health community has championed the success of the “Back to Sleep” campaign, which has helped to curb the SIDS rate in the US and globally by targeting prone sleeping.  However, progress in reducing the incidence of SIDS and SUID during sleep has slowed.  Risks and benefits of bed-sharing continue be an area of active research although this practice remains controversial, especially in the US

Methods: We examined parenting information regarding safe sleep from public health websites in four countries to explore how countries identified modifiable factors associated with safe sleep.  We performed a qualitative analysis of selected materials from the US, Canada, the UK, and Japan; these countries have differing incidence rates of SIDS and cultural norms surrounding sleeping practices. 

Results: All countries promoted the supine sleeping position and either advised or implied for room-sharing.  The US, Canada, and UKwarned parents about room-sharing with parents who smoke, while Japan did not have any recommendations concerning parental substance use.  The United States, Canada, and UK all endorsed infant crib sleeping as the preferred arrangement. While the US and Canada had firm denunciations against bed-sharing, the UK offered recommendations for safe bed-sharing, as connected their all-encompassing goal of promoting nighttime breastfeeding.  Japan, which has one of the lowest rate of SIDS in the world and a high prevalence of bed-sharing, did not address bed-sharing in its recommendations. 

Conclusions: Official recommendations vary with regard to risk and protective factors.  Content reflects dominant cultural practices and beliefs.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Identify similarities and differences between countries in recommendations for modifiable behaviors associated with SIDS and SUID prevention. Compare differences in recommendations as being related to cultural attitudes and practices and be more aware of the complexities in these practices.

Keyword(s): Practice Guidelines, Maternal and Child Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Masters of Public Health student studying safe sleep and health promotion messaging with my faculty mentors and co-authors. Our second author is a professor of nurse midwifery at University of Tokyo.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.