Parenting Research Centre, 5/232 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2013 Jan 11;13:26. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-26.
Exhaustion and fatigue are commonly experienced by parents during the post-partum period, and can have implications for daily functioning, mental health and parenting practices. There is a need for the development of effective interventions to assist parents with the management of fatigue. This paper outlines the procedure for a randomised controlled study which aims to test the efficacy of Wide Awake Parenting, a program for the management of fatigue in the postnatal period.
METHODS/DESIGN: Parents with an infant less than 6 months of age, and from seven Local Government Areas in Melbourne, Australia were invited to participate in this study. Parents were randomised to receive the Wide Awake Parenting program (intervention groups) or usual care (control group) offered by health services. The Wide Awake Parenting program provides parents with psycho-education and information about fatigue, and strategies to reduce its effects either via a self-directed method, or professionally led with a home visit and telephone support. Baseline data will be collected prior to randomisation, and further data will be collected at 2- and 6-weeks post intervention.
To our knowledge this is the first randomised controlled trial of a program which compares the efficacy of a self-management approach and health professional assistance for the management of fatigue in the early post-partum period. If effective, it could offer an important, universal public health management approach to this common health concern.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000133932.
产后阶段父母普遍会经历疲惫和疲劳，这可能会影响日常功能、心理健康和育儿行为。因此，需要开发有效的干预措施来帮助父母应对疲劳。本文概述了一项随机对照研究的程序，该研究旨在测试 Wide Awake Parenting 的疗效，这是一种针对产后疲劳管理的方案。
方法/设计：邀请澳大利亚墨尔本 7 个地方政府区域内 6 个月以下婴儿的父母参加这项研究。父母被随机分配接受 Wide Awake Parenting 计划（干预组）或通过健康服务提供的常规护理（对照组）。Wide Awake Parenting 计划为父母提供有关疲劳的心理教育和信息，以及通过自我指导或专业指导（家访和电话支持）来减轻其影响的策略。在随机分组前收集基线数据，并在干预后 2 至 6 周进一步收集数据。
据我们所知，这是第一个比较自我管理方法和健康专业人员协助在产后早期管理疲劳的效果的随机对照试验。如果有效，它可以为这一常见的健康问题提供一种重要的、普遍的公共卫生管理方法。
澳大利亚新西兰临床试验注册中心，ACTRN12611000133932。
