Brandon Submits NIH R01 Multi-PI Subcontract Application

Kudos to Debra Brandon, associate professor, and her entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 Multi-PI Subcontract application to the University of Wisconsin entitled "Implementation of an Evidence-based Parentally Administered Intervention for Preterm Infants." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of Sept. 1, 2019. 

Many of the 500,000 preterm infants born annually in the US fail to achieve optimal health and development, resulting in high initial hospitalization and long-term health care costs.  Early developmentally-based behavioral intervention has well-established positive effects and is recommended as the standard of care to support early brain maturation, health, and development. However, few Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) provide this early intervention. H-HOPE (Hospital to Home:  Optimizing the Preterm Infant’s Environment) has established efficacy, and has a standardized protocol, making it ready for widespread implementation.

In NIH-funded research, H-HOPE improved developmental maturity and mother-infant interaction, and reduced initial hospitalization costs and acute care visits through 6-weeks corrected age. This research tests whether H-HOPE can be implemented and sustained in diverse NICUs, using a Type 3 Hybrid design to evaluate both implementation processes and effectiveness.

Duke will serve as the Quantitative Data Center and two H-HOPE implementation sites (Duke and Durham Regional-[DRH]); together recruiting and enrolling approximately 176 pre-implementation and 176 H-HOPE infant/parent(s).