Swiss-Austrian VEry Preterm Infant Transition Systematic Review (SAVE-T): Transition to home: improving outcomes of children and families - a systematic review protocol

Background: Medical progress has significantly improved the survival rates of very preterm-born infants in recent decades. Nevertheless, these infants are still at increased risk for long-term impairments as compared to term-born infants. This situation often leaves parents coping with anxiety and a sense of unpreparedness, as they navigate the transition to home. While the homecoming of a preterm born infant is long awaited and brings relief to families, it also marks the end of intensive monitoring and highly specialized professional care. Correspondingly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) advocates for additional support for parents of preterm infants following the transition to home. According to the WHO, preparation for this transition yields positive effects on crucial aspects such as nutrition, parent-child interaction, and parental well-being. Consequently, we aimed to provide an overview of existing transition to home interventions and their efficacy, by conducting a systematic review of the literature. Methods: We will perform a systematic review of interventions aiming at improving the transition to home process for very preterm-born infants and their parents and will search the following databases: Cochrane, Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Our main aim is to provide an overview over the existing interventions, and their efficacy. Thus, we will not predefine specific outcomes, but we will describe, assess and summarize the outcomes of the included studies. Discussion: This systematic literature review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of current interventions designed to improve the transition from hospital to home. Subsequently, it will show the individual effect of these interventions and pool effect sizes if possible. The most promising interventions will then be combined and used as the basis of a subsequent randomized controlled trial of a new transition to home intervention. Systematic review registration: The systematic review protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on August 30, 2023. PROSPERO CRD42023455401 ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Clinical Protocols ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Not applicable - this is a systematic review protocol.