The neonatal assessment manual score (NAME) for improving the clinical management of infants: a perspective validity study

Abstract

Background and objectives The Neonatal Assessment Manual scorE (NAME) was developed to assist in the clinical management of infants in the neonatal ward by assessing their body’s compliance and homogeneity. The present study begins its validation process. Methods An expert panel of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) professionals investigated the NAME face and content validity. Content validity was assessed through the content validity index (CVI). Construct validity was assessed using data collected from 50 newborns hospitalized in the NICU of “Vittore Buzzi” Children Hospital of Milan, Italy. Kendall’s τ and ordinal logistic regressions were used to evaluate the correlation between the NAME scores and infants’ gestational age, birth weight, post-menstrual age, weight at the time of assessment, and a complexity index related to organic complications. Results The CVIs for compliance, homogeneity, and the whole scale were respectively 1, 0.9, and 0.95. Construct validity analysis showed significant positive correlations between the NAME and infants’ weight and age, and a negative correlation between the NAME and the complexity index (τ = − 0.31 [95% IC: − 0.47, − 0.12], p = 0.016 and OR = 0.56 [95% IC: 0.32, 0.94], p = 0.034 for categorical NAME; τ = − 0.32 [95% IC: − 0.48, − 0.14], p = 0.005 for numerical NAME). Conclusions The NAME was well accepted by NICU professionals in this study and it demonstrates good construct validity in discriminating the infant’s general condition. Future studies are needed to test the NAME reliability and predictive capacity.

The Neonatal Assessment Manual scorE: A Reliability Study on Hospitalized Neonates

“…In fact, the present study evaluated the interrater reliability and agreement of the NAME, as a part of the validation process of the NAME procedure. According to a previous study, the NAME seems to have both face and content validity; we also found some preliminary positive results for the NAME construct validity by assessing the relationships between age, weight, and the NAME (21). To strengthen the NAME validity, it is also necessary to evaluate whether there is a relationship between the NAME and the newborns' clinical conditions (for instance, the conditions reported in Table 2).…”

“…Several studies demonstrated that procedures involving gentle touch, including light massage, osteopathic manipulative treatment, and kangaroo care, can induce positive effects in preterm babies: lower stress levels, better sleep quality, augmented heart rate and oxygen saturation regulation, improved growth, and higher survival likelihood (5,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). However, since a procedure that uses touch purely as an assessment tool is lacking, we devised the NAME procedure: we described its rationale (9), started its validation process (21), and, in the present study, assessed its reliability.…”

“…The NAME assessment lasts about 90 s and aims to test the newborns' compliance and homogeneity, i.e., briefly, how the newborns' body mechanically responds to gentle touch through the activation of the autonomic nervous system and the central interoceptive network. In particular, compliance represents whether the body changes its volume according to the applied mechanical stimuli (pressure and distension), whereas homogeneity represents whether the infant's body tissues adapt to the mechanical stimuli in the same way throughout their body [see ( 9 ) for in-depth description of the NAME rationale and ( 21 ) for an analysis of its validity].…”

“…As every other evaluation tool, the NAME shall possess both validity and reliability, which are considered the main properties of a diagnostic instrument—they define its practical and clinical usefulness ( 20 ). A previous paper has begun assessing the NAME validity ( 21 ), whereas the NAME interrater reliability has not been explored yet. Interrater reliability defines the concordance between the measurements obtained by two or more skilled operators.…”

Osteopathic Evaluation and Positional Plagiocephaly: A Descriptive Study on a Population of Children with ASD

“…Regarding the age of children, there is now a wide international literature that underlines the importance of osteopathic intervention in the neonatal period, which highlights the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment in the presence of symptomatic and idiopathic asymmetries in the first months of life [37,38]. In this research, children have been involved from the age of 18 months, the age in which the first signs and symptoms of autism are usually observed, so intervening through osteopathic treatment in the first months of life means to be able to prevent the onset of dysfunctions (not related to autism) and their consequences; furthermore, this treatment could favor the development of other areas of functional regulation of the child, for example those related to sleep and feeding, reducing the tension and / or dysfunctional states already present, so continuing the prevention of further dysfunctions..…”