Abstract
Objective
To evaluate caregiver experiences with presurgical lip, alveolus, and nose approximation (PLANA) therapy, including adherence, burden, support, and perceived effectiveness in infants with cleft lip and/or palate.
Design
Cross-sectional survey study using an anonymous, voluntary questionnaire administered via Research Electronic Data Capture. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize responses, and qualitative responses were analyzed for common themes.
Setting
Single tertiary care academic institution.
Patients, Participants
Caregivers of infants with cleft lip and/or palate undergoing PLANA therapy were identified through institutional records. Of 48 eligible caregivers, 23 unique responses were included.
Interventions
PLANA therapy utilizing the NoseAlign device with concurrent lip taping, applied at home with periodic clinical follow-up.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Caregiver-reported adherence, training satisfaction, infant tolerance, caregiver burden, perceived support, and perceived effectiveness.
Results
Caregivers reported high satisfaction with training (73.9% very satisfied) and high adherence, with 87.0% reporting consistent use and 100% reporting daily wear. Most reported no feeding interference (86.4%) and good infant tolerance (73.9% comfortable or very comfortable). Caregiver burden was low, with 60.9% reporting minimal impact on daily routines and 78.3% reporting confidence in application. Perceived support from the medical team was uniformly high (100%). Overall, 90.9% were satisfied with outcomes, and 95.7% would recommend PLANA therapy.
Conclusions
PLANA therapy demonstrates high caregiver satisfaction, strong adherence, and favorable perceived outcomes. Its simplified design may reduce caregiver burden while maintaining effectiveness. Further studies are needed to evaluate long-term outcomes and cost-effectiveness.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
