This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.The long-term goal of this research is to evaluate factors that impact preterm infants' interactions with their parents during hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in order to support these interactions and promote optimal infant development. The present proposal is aimed at collecting pilot data to establish preliminary evidence of the validity of the Caregiver Contributions coding system, a newly developed system to examine caregivers' interactions with preterm infants in the NICU. Although a number of coding systems to assess infant-parent interactions exist, few systems have been specifically developed for, or used extensively with preterm infants. The importance of infant-caregiver interactions for later development has been well documented. In the preterm infant population, interactions with parents may be disrupted as a result of infant medical status, the stresses of a NICU, and parental adaptation to challenging and often traumatic situations, among other factors. Very few studies document interactions between preterm infants and their parents in the NICU. This pilot study will include 20 preterm infants and their mothers. Infants and their mothers will be seen twice during their hospitalization. Data analysis will address: (1) the test-retest reliability of the coding system, (2) inter-rater reliability, and (3) preliminary relations among variables that have been associated with infant-mother interactions in the literature (e.g., maternal psychological health, socio-demographic variables). Results from this study will be used to document the utility of a newly developed coding system designed to assess preterm infants' interactions with their caregivers in the NICU and to inform future research.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 837 publications
