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The Period of PURPLE Crying

Also: Period of PURPLE Crying · PURPLE program

“PURPLE: Peak of crying, Unexpected, Resists soothing, Pain-like face, Long lasting, Evening.”

Shaken baby syndrome prevention program from the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, given to parents of newborns in hospitals with a booklet and DVD. It explains that long bouts of crying are normal and tells parents it is OK to walk away, never shake. North Carolina made it statewide in 2009.

Years
2004–now
Country
CanadaUnited States
Coined
Period of PURPLE Crying
Topic
Injury preventionMaternal health
Asks people to
RecognizeSubstitute
Strategy
Coined termSimple instruction
Channel
Clinical settingPrint
Audience
Parents
Parents of newborns.

Evidence

ExperimentalMixed

Randomized trial with 1,279 mothers (Barr 2009, CMAJ): PURPLE materials raised crying knowledge scores (63.8 vs 58.4) and walking away during inconsolable crying (rate ratio 1.7). In North Carolina's statewide rollout (Zolotor 2015), about 405,000 parents were reached (88%) and nurse-line calls about crying fell. Abusive head trauma rates did not fall relative to other states.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome NGO, creator

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Sources

  1. Barr RG et al. Do educational materials change knowledge and behaviour about crying and shaken baby syndrome? A randomized controlled trial. CMAJ 2009;180(7):727-33 evaluation · 2009 · DOI 10.1503/cmaj.081419 · PMID 19255065
  2. Fujiwara T et al. Effectiveness of educational materials designed to change knowledge and behavior about crying and shaken baby syndrome: a replication of a randomized controlled trial in Japan. Child Abuse Negl 2012;36(9):613-20 reference · 2012 · DOI 10.1016/j.chiabu.2012.07.003 · PMID 22954642
  3. Zolotor AJ et al. Effectiveness of a Statewide Abusive Head Trauma Prevention Program in North Carolina. JAMA Pediatr 2015;169(12):1126-31 evaluation · 2015 · DOI 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.2690 · PMID 26501945
  4. Barr RG et al. Eight-year outcome of implementation of abusive head trauma prevention. Child Abuse Negl 2018;84:106-114 evaluation · 2018 · DOI 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.07.004 · PMID 30077049
  5. Reese LS et al. Evaluation of Period of PURPLE Crying, an abusive head trauma prevention program. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2014 evaluation · 2014 · DOI 10.1111/1552-6909.12495 · PMID 25134950
  6. Groisberg S et al. Evaluation of the Period of PURPLE Crying: An Abusive Head Trauma Prevention Programme. Child Abuse Review 2020 evaluation · 2020 · DOI 10.1002/car.2625
  7. Beaulieu E et al. The lifetime costs of pediatric abusive head trauma and a cost-effectiveness analysis of the Period of Purple crying program in British Columbia, Canada. Child Abuse Negl 2019 evaluation · 2019 · DOI 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104133 · PMID 31473380
  8. Stewart TC et al. An evidence-based method for targeting an abusive head trauma prevention media campaign and its evaluation. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2015 evaluation · 2015 · DOI 10.1097/ta.0000000000000828 · PMID 26496099
  9. Sadler K et al. Impact of a Parent Education Program Delivered by Nurses and Health Care Providers in Reducing Infant Physical Abuse Hospitalization Rates in British Columbia, Canada. Can J Nurs Res 2024 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1177/08445621231222527 · PMID 38115698

Research notes

Created 2026-10-22 by literature mining (PubMed/OpenAlex); evidence level, outcome and findings are paraphrased from the evaluation abstracts, full texts not read. No credits: no page naming an agency was checked. Start year 2004 and the PURPLE expansion are from secondary memory; confirm on dontshake.org. Tagline is the acronym expansion, not an ad line. Evaluation links reviewed 2026-10-22: Fujiwara 2012 is a Japanese replication of the PURPLE trial, set to reference. Evaluation sources added 2026-10-22 (citation snowballing / helpline pass): Reese 2014, Groisberg 2020, Beaulieu 2019, Stewart 2015, Sadler 2024; evidence level and outcome unchanged.

Record cases/period-of-purple-crying.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign