Strengthening peer support for families bereaved by sudden unexpected infant death: Development and evaluation of a standardized training course

Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) is the leading cause of postneonatal mortality worldwide. Bereaved parents commonly seek peer support for bereavement-related needs, but competencies and standardized training for organizations offering peer facilitators are lacking. We developed and piloted a train-the-trainer curriculum addressing peer facilitators' knowledge, skills, and attitudes for supporting SUID-bereaved parents. A needs assessment of international peer support organizations and expert consensus from an international working group informed development of competencies and a curriculum. A 1.5-day in-person pilot of eight participants from five countries was conducted, followed by remote sessions. Pre- and post-training surveys assessed impact. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests analyzed outcomes; open-ended responses were descriptively summarized. Significant improvements in knowledge, skills, and attitudes (p < .05) were shown across 13 competencies, including grief literacy and group facilitation skills, suggesting the curriculum is feasible, acceptable, and effective. This train-the-trainer model may support scalable, global peer bereavement training.