A Rapid Review of occupational therapy intervention for neonatal care.
Introduction: This rapid review synthesised global evidence on occupational therapy intervention practices for neonatal care to inform occupational therapy practice within national health policies. Neonatal care refers to early intervention for premature or at-risk newborn infants. Methods: Searches...
| Publicado en: | South African Journal of Occupational Therapy Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 1 - 10 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | review tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa
Aug2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=196253017&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 196253017 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 00382337 25J6 jtl: South African Journal of Occupational Therapy issn: 00382337 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2026 vid: 56 iid: 2 pid: 30274 pub: Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa artinfo: ui: 196253017 196253017 196253017 10.17159/2310-3833/2026/vol56no2a9 196253017 ppf: 1 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: A Rapid Review of occupational therapy intervention for neonatal care. aug: au: van der Walt, Janke Engelbrecht, Madri van Biljon, Hester M. Soeker, Shaheed M. affil: Division Occupational Therapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Francie van Zijl Drive, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa sug: subj: Intensive Care Units, Neonatal South Africa Infant, Premature Occupational Therapy Infant, Newborn South Africa Health Policy Policy Making Neonatal Assessment Infant, Newborn: birth-1 month ab: Introduction: This rapid review synthesised global evidence on occupational therapy intervention practices for neonatal care to inform occupational therapy practice within national health policies. Neonatal care refers to early intervention for premature or at-risk newborn infants. Methods: Searches were conducted of the Cochrane, Medline, CINAHL, and Academic OneFile databases through keyword searches. Systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that qualified as Level I and II studies, published in peer-reviewed journals from January 2015 to August 2025, were included for screening. Screenings took place in Rayyan.ai first by title and abstract by two reviewers, and then by full text. Conflicts were resolved by a third reviewer. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklis ts for systematic reviews and RCTs were used for bias and quality control. The records included in the study were systematically analysed, and the resulting data were plotted using a customised Excel worksheet. Results: Nine records were included for analysis, focusing on the following interventions: family-focused care, sensory-focused oral-motor interventions, management of tone, interventions for obstetric brachial plexus injuries, multisensory stimulation and priming, and the effects of neonatal therapy interventions on the development of premature infants. A strong focus on family involvement was present. Intervention took place on a primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare level where the occupational therapist was part of a specialised team. Short and possible long-term outcomes were described for all developmental domains. Conclusion: Evidence from this rapid review confirms that occupational therapists are vital members of specialist neonatal teams at all levels of healthcare. They contribute to the early care of infants for overall development and support families through education and training. Implications for practice: * Occupational therapists' unique skill set enables them to provide a specialised yet holistic approach within a multidisciplinary neonatal care team * Occupational therapy intervention in neonatal care is required in tertiary, secondary, and primary health settings * A family-focused approach is recommended across different interventions and diagnoses and provides possible cost-effective quality intervention for neonatal care pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: review tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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