The Effect of Tele-Education on The Development of Premature Infants After Discharge During The Corona Pandemic: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Premature infants are at risk for neurodevelopmental delays, and parents do not have enough knowledge and information about that. The coronavirus pandemic and the limited presence of parents in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), as well as the risk of rehospitalization after discharge to follow up on the child’s condition, increased the need to investigate compensatory solutions to provide services to high-risk children and their parents. Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was conducted in Tehran from July 2021 to March 2022. A total of 32 preterm infants were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 16) and the control group (n = 16). Tele-education was provided through a 12-week intervention by written content, video, audio, and photos for the treatment group. Infants were matched and randomly assigned to two comparable groups using permuted block randomization before the intervention. The results of the infant’s development after the intervention were measured using the ASQ via an online form and the Bayley III scale by the country’s Bayley test mentor at 3 months corrected age. This clinical trial was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) (Registration No. IRCT20220725055554N1). Results: The results indicated that tele-education could not produce a statistically significant distinction between participants in the intervention and control groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Although this study showed that tele-education has no significant positive impact on the development of premature babies at 3 corrected ages, further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to improve our knowledge about the effects of tele-education at older ages.