{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T20:35:42Z","timestamp":1790109342590,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,4]],"date-time":"2024-03-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1709510400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Positional cranial deformities are associated with prematurity evolving during the first 2 years of life due to the malleable characteristics of the skull, the first year being the main\/primary therapeutic window for intervention. The objectives were (a) to describe health characteristics, peri- and postnatal pathologies, and positional cranial deformities in infants enrolled in an early intervention program and (b) to analyze the effects of a parent education-based intervention program on positional cranial deformity in premature infants. A quantitative, analytical, longitudinal study was conducted. It included 103 premature infants enrolled in an early intervention program (EIP) during the year 2017, all under 4 months of corrected age, to whom a parent education-based intervention program was applied. Cranial circumference, cranial width, diagonals, and anteroposterior diameter were measured, and the cranial asymmetry index (CAI) and cephalic index (CI) were calculated at baseline and during two subsequent evaluations separated by a 3-month period. The main results showed that 75.7% of the infants belonged to a very premature gestational age category, and 57.3% had an adequate weight for gestational age. The most frequent pathologies were premature jaundice, premature anemia, and hyaline membrane disease. The most frequent positional cranial deformity was plagiocephaly. The parent education-based intervention program resulted in (1) a significant decrease in the CAI and a significant increase in the IC, (2) plagiocephalies: an increase in the mild category and a decrease in the moderate + severe categories, (3) brachycephalies: a decrease in the absence category and an increase in the moderate + severe category, and (4) dolichocephalies: an increase in the absence category and a decrease in the mild category. In conclusion, the recommended first line of intervention was not enough for this population, and future studies should support the development of national clinical guidelines, where education is complemented with other therapeutic measures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children11030302","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,4]],"date-time":"2024-03-04T05:31:12Z","timestamp":1709530272000},"page":"302","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Effects of an Educational Intervention Program on Positional Cranial Deformity in Premature Infants"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1820-0820","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandra","family":"Mosca-Hayler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Kinesiolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Valpara\u00edso, Valpara\u00edso 2340000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6488-9756","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela","family":"L\u00f3pez-Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Kinesiolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Valpara\u00edso, Valpara\u00edso 2340000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Romina","family":"Curotto-Noce","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Kinesiolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Valpara\u00edso, Valpara\u00edso 2340000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jorge","family":"Cuevas-Aburto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Aprendizaje, Universidad Santo Tom\u00e1s, Los \u00c1ngeles 4440000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0597-793X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaime","family":"V\u00e1squez-G\u00f3mez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Estudios Avanzados del Maule (CIEAM), Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Maule, Talca 3460000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0548-3676","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel","family":"Dur\u00e1n-Ag\u00fcero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Nutrici\u00f3n y Diet\u00e9tica, Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de la Salud, Universidad San Sebasti\u00e1n, Santiago 8330106, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1697-6641","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juana","family":"Borja Gonz\u00e1lez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Programa de Enfermar\u00eda, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla 080020, Colombia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9730-4374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ximena","family":"Diaz-Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n Calidad de Vida, Universidad del Biob\u00edo, Chill\u00e1n 4300818, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4729-1680","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael","family":"Zapata-Lamana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Educaci\u00f3n, Universidad de Concepci\u00f3n, Los \u00c1ngeles 4440000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1986-1148","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mar\u00eda Antonia","family":"Parra-Rizo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University (VIU), 46002 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Campus of Elche, Miguel Hernandez University (UMH), 03202 Elche, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0418-8787","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Igor","family":"Cigarroa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Kinesiolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Cat\u00f3lica Silva Henr\u00edquez, La Florida 8240000, Chile"},{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Victoria 4720000, Chile"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1097\/SCS.0b013e3181f6c313","article-title":"Deformational Plagiocephaly, Brachycephaly, and Scaphocephaly. 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