Association Between Mother-Infant Attunement During Interaction and the Quality of General Movements

Association Between Mother-Infant Attunement During Interaction and the Quality of General Movements and Motor Development of Preterm Infants

The proposed research has the potential of contributing to the limited empirical literature on the relationship between maternal sensitivity and motor development of preterm infants. If indeed maternal attuned behaviors will be found to be associated with the quality of motor development, such a finding will support the effectiveness of physical therapy in guiding caregivers to attune their holding and touch of preterm infants.

We hypothesize that mothers and infants' attunement during observed interaction will be related to the quality of preterm infants' spontaneous movements in the following ways: First, better maternal attunement to the infants needs, and in particular attunement of holding and touch will be associated with better quality of spontaneous movements of the infants. Second, more initiations and/or involvement of infants in interaction will be associated with better maternal attunement to the infant. Third, more initiations and/or involvement of infants in interaction will be associated with better quality of spontaneous movements and better achievements in developmental milestone. All hypotheses will be examined while controlling for maternal use of SSC method during hospitalization after birth and family demographic backgrounds.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Premature Birth

Detailed Description

Sixty preterm infants at 3-4 months of corrected age and their mothers will be recruited. Infants will be evaluated for their spontaneous movements and their developmental milestones achievement, and mothers and infants will be evaluated for their attunement during observed interaction, especially on maternal attunement in holding and touching their infants. Mothers will report on demographic background of the family, temperament of their infants and previous Skin to Skin Contact treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 61

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Israel
  • Nazareth Illit, Israel
    • Maccabi Healthcare Services

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 4 months to 8 months (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Preterm infants at a corrected age of 3-4 months and their mothers

Description

Inclusion Criteria:preterm infants born between 26-34 weeks of gestation, whose mothers speak and write Hebrew fluently.

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Exclusion Criteria:preterm infants who suffer from perinatal asphyxia, genetic or metabolic diseases, necrotizing colitis that requires operation, intra uterine growth retardation, deafness, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) or major congenital defects.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

preterm infants and their mothers; Inclusion criteria are: preterm infants born between 26-34 weeks of gestation, whose mothers speak and write Hebrew fluently. Exclusion criteria are: preterm infants who suffer from perinatal asphyxia, genetic or metabolic diseases, necrotizing colitis that requires operation, intra uterine growth retardation, deafness, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) or major congenital defects. Infants and their mothers will be recruited from child developmental centers and Pediatric Clinics of Maccabi. No intervention is included in the research.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Better maternal attunement of holding and touch will be associated with better quality of spontaneous movements of the infants.	Infants are videotapes for General Movements Mothers and infants are videotapes for 10 minutes of free interaction	Assesed at 3-4 months corrected age of the infants

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
More initiations and/or involvement of infants during the interaction will be associated with better quality of spontaneous movements of the infants and better achievement in developmental milestones.	in addition to General Movements and Interaction, developmental milestones will be assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor development Scale.	3-4 months corrected age of the infants

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Assuta Hospital Systems
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Orna Lev enacab, BPT, Assuta Hospital, Tel Aviv

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 7, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 7, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): January 10, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): July 8, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 7, 2015
• Last Verified: April 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: preterm infants; general movements; mother-infant interaction
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pregnancy Complications; Obstetric Labor Complications; Obstetric Labor, Premature; Premature Birth
• Other Study ID Numbers: Sponsor (Other Grant/Funding Number: Sponsor)