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Using the NBO to promote mother-infant interaction J. Kevin Nugent, Brazelton Institute, Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School & University of Massachusetts at Amherst.; Jay Killough, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Julio Gonzalez, SUNY, Old Westbury; Judith Wides, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Clarissa Valim, Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School; Mei-Chiung Shih, Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School
This report is based on a poster presented at the Zero to Three Conference, Washington, 2005
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This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the NBO on mother-infant interaction over the first four months of life. The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system (Nugent, Keefer, O'Brien, Johnson and Blanchard, 2005) can be used by health care professionals to provide information and guidance to parents about their infant's behavior and development, with the goal of promoting a positive relationship between parent and infant and between practitioner and family. Forty primaparous mothers and their healthy full-term infants were randomized into experimental or control groups. The experimental group participated in the NBO in the hospital at two days and in the home at one month. At four months, 17 control dyads and 19 experimental dyads were videotaped in their homes in a semi-structured play episode. This was coded and scored, using the CARE-Index Scoring System to measure the quality of parent child interaction. The results show that mothers who participated in the NBO intervention were four times more likely to be classified as "sensitive" on the CARE-Index than mothers who did not receive the intervention. Infants of mothers who participated in the intervention were six times more likely to be classified as responsive - "cooperative" - in the context of mother-infant interactions, as compared to control group infants. Adjusting for all other covariates, older mothers were slightly more likely to be rated as "sensitive." The results of this randomized study demonstrate that the NBO is effective in strengthening the relationship between parents and their infants. In this study, the NBO was used with parents to create a profile of their baby's behavioral repertoire, and thus enabled the clinician to provide important information to parents about their baby and identify the kind of support and stimulation needed to promote positive parent-infant interaction.
