Japan
Yokohama, Japan will host the 11th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health August 1-5, 2008.

Shoehi Ohg and J. Kevin Nugent

As part of this event, the Newborn Behavior Assessment Scale (NBAS) will be featured in a series of lectures and presentations. Since the publication of the NBAS by T. Berry Brazelton and his colleagues, it has been used in hundreds of research studies as a means of assessing the effects of a wide range of pre- and perinatal influences on newborn behavior. It has also been used as an effective form of preventive intervention in different cultural settings.

The agenda includes:

• T. Berry Brazelton will present a Master Lecture discussing the development of the NBAS and its uses in both research and clinical settings.
• J. Kevin Nugent will present a Master Lecture on the NBO, its development and uses
• Shoehi Ohgi (Japan) and J. Kevin Nugent (USA) will co-chair a symposium entitled, Uses of the NBAS as a form of intervention in different cultural settings.
• Tomitaro Akiyama (Japan) will discuss how the NBAS is useful with infants with congenital neuromuscular diseases.
• Joao Gomes-Pedro (Portugal) will describe the value of the NBAS in pediatric training, presenting the NBAS and Touchpoints Approach as ways to strengthen relational care between providers and children and their families.
• Carme Costas (Spain) will outline why the NBAS is useful in early intervention settings.
• Beulah Warren (Australia) will present case studies from an NBAS-based model for training infant mental health workers.
• Joanna Hawthorne (UK) will describe the benefits of training hospital personnel (e.g., neonatal nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, and pediatricians) in the administration of the NBAS.
• Hanne Munck (Denmark) will discuss the specific value of the NBAS with fathers.
• T. Berry Brazelton will conclude the presentations by discussing how the NBAS is being used throughout the world.