WeChat‐based remote follow‐up management alleviates the home care burden and anxiety of parents of premature infants: Randomized controlled study

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of WeChat‐based remote follow‐up management on reducing the home care burden and anxiety of parents of premature infants. Methods A randomized controlled study was conducted in our hospital, with 150 premature infants enrolled in this study, each with 75 cases in the intervention group and the control group. WeChat‐based remote follow‐up management was performed in the intervention group after discharge, while traditional outpatient follow‐up management was performed in the control group. Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) scale as the primary outcome was used to compare the parental care burden between the two groups. Results At the 1‐month follow‐up, the ZBI (37.1 ± 8.3 vs. 54.2 ± 10.5 [mean ± SD], mean difference: 17.1, the 95% confidence interval for the mean difference: [14.07, 20.13], P = 0.016), Family Caregiver Task Inventory (FCTI) scale (23.1 ± 5.2 vs. 33.4 ± 6.7 [mean ± SD], mean difference: 10.3, the 95% confidence interval for the mean difference: [8.38, 12.22], P = 0.023), Self‐Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (49.6 ± 8.5 vs. 60.2 ± 10.8 [mean ± SD], mean difference: 10.6, the 95% confidence interval for the mean difference: [7.49,13.71], P = 0.021) and Self‐Rating Depression Scale (SDS) (48.2 ± 9.5 vs. 58.8 ± 11.2 [mean ± SD], mean difference: 10.6, the 95% confidence interval for the mean difference: [7.28, 13.92], P = 0.019) scores of the intervention group were lower than those of the control group, and the lower scores indicate better outcomes. Conclusion WeChat‐based remote follow‐up management of premature infants after discharge can effectively improve parents' ability to care and their psychological state and reduce burden of care.

WeChat-based remote follow-up management reduces the burden of home care and anxiety on parents of children with refractory epilepsy: A randomized controlled study

“…In this study, we found that the FCTI scores (31.79 ± 3.33 and 31.10 ± 4.21) and ZBI scores (51.97 ± 3.90 and 51.00 ± 4.34) at discharge of the 2 groups indicated that the parents of children with epilepsy faced a heavy burden of family care. [18] Moreover, results of the present study also showed that the SAS scores and SDS scores of the parents of the children with epilepsy were (59.26 ± 4.73 and 59.51 ± 5.04) and (58.07 ± 4.83 and 57.43 ± 4.38), respectively. According to the interpretation of the SAS scale and the SDS scale, that is, SAS score >50 indicates anxiety [27] and SDS score higher than 40 indicates depression, [28] and parents of children with epilepsy in both groups have different degrees of anxiety and depression at the time of discharge.…”

“…In addition, all parents of recruited epileptic children were informed of the detailed agreement of this study and their rights and obligations, and all of them signed informed consent form. Based on the data from our previous study [18] and assuming that the alpha value was set at 0.05 with a power of 0.9, the required number of participants was calculated to be 68 in each group. Assuming a 10% missing rate, the total sample size was set as at least 150, each with 75 cases at least in the intervention group and the control group.…”

“…The details contained in the FCTI, ZBI, SAS and SDS scales have been described in previous study by our team. [18]…”

“…[12,13] As a part of continuous nursing care, social software is widely proved to be beneficial to patients after discharge, such as breast cancer, [14,15] non-small cell lung cancer, [16] orthopedic patients [17] and premature infants. [18] WeChat, with 1.2 billion users, is the most commonly used social APP for Chinese people. WeChat follow-up nursing methods are widely used by nursing staff in China for medication and rehabilitation monitoring, psychological status assessment, and health knowledge education after discharge.…”

Effectiveness of Digital Mental Health Tools to Reduce Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…We assessed the effects of DMH intervention compared with control groups with a mean (SD) from 80 studies (67 records for depression and 65 records for anxiety; Figure 2 [ 26 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 35 - 39 , 44 - 47 , 54 , 55 , 57 , 59 - 61 , 63 , 65 , 68 - 78 , 80 , 82 - 84 , 86 - 88 , 90 , 91 , 93 , 95 , 97 - 101 , 106 , 107 , 109 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 - 121 ] and Figure 3 [ 27 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 35 - 38 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 48 - 50 , 52 , 55 - 59 , 61 , 62 , 68 , 69 , 72 - 74 , 78 , 80 , 82 - 84 , 86 , 88 , 89 , ...…”