Shaken Baby Syndrome
Prevention and Awareness Program
Introduction

University of New Mexico Hospitals (UNMH) have initiated a prevention program for preventable abusive head trauma or otherwise knows as "Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)".  This head trauma is 100% preventable.  Nationally, each year an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 babies suffer from preventable abusive head trauma and one out of four babies dies of this head trauma and the other three babies will need ongoing medical attention for the rest of their life.  Shaken baby/shaken impact syndrome (SBS) is a form of inflicted head trauma.  Head injury, as a form of child abuse, can be caused by direct blows to the head, dropping or throwing the child, or shaking the child.  Head trauma is the leading cause of death in child abuse cases in the United States.  Unlike other forms of inflicted head trauma, SBS results from injuries caused by someone vigorously shaking an infant.  The average age of victims is between 3 and 8 months of age.  The perpetrators in SBS cases are almost always parents or caregivers, who shake the baby out of frustration or stress when the little one is crying inconsolably.  Approximately 60% of shaken babies are male, and children of families who live at or below the poverty level are at an increased risk for SBS as well as any type of child abuse.  And it's estimated that the perpetrators in 65% to 90% of cases are males - usually either the baby's father or the mother's boyfriend, often someone in his early 20s.

UNMH is helping new parents identify and prevent shaking injuries and understand how to respond when infants cry.  Our program is a duplication of an educational study conduced by Dr. Mark Dias. From 1998 to 2004, Mark Dias, MD, FAAP and colleagues implemented a hospital-based, parent educational program in upstate New York to teach new parents about the dangers of infant shaking. The goals of the program are (1) to provide educational materials about SBS to the parents of newborn infants, (2) to assess parents' comprehension of the dangers of violent infant shaking, (3) to track penetration of the program through the collection of returned commitment statements (CS), and (4) to evaluate the program's affect on the regional incidence of SBS.

This UNMH SBS prevention program will be administered to all parents of newborn infants prior to discharge from the hospital.  Nurses will provide parents with the following materials: 1) a one-page English, Spanish, or Vietnemese leaflet about preventing SBS, with Navajo translators available, and 2) an 11-minute video called Portrait of Promise: Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome.  The 11-minute video, Portrait of Promise: Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome, featured 3 families whose lives were affected by SBS and a message from Carolyn Levitt, a nationally recognized child abuse specialist, who addressed the effects of violent shaking and the potentials of prevention.  Posters were placed in the maternity wards and both parents were asked to voluntarily sign a CS confirming their receipt and understanding of the materials.  Program compliance will be assessed by the number of signed CSs and comprehension of the materials was assessed by a 7 month follow-up telephone survey.

We hope to expand this program into all 52 New Mexico Hospitals and eventually collect epidemiological data.  If you are interested in initiating a prevention of head trauma program in your institution, please refer to the materials on this web site and contact us for support.