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Intervention with disadvantaged parents of sick preterm infants
1University of California, Los Angeles.
Insights
Supportive home visiting services for high-risk infants can improve maternal responsiveness. This intervention aims to protect vulnerable preterm infants from later developmental and cognitive challenges.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
Background:
- Preterm infants face higher risks for developmental issues, especially when from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Socioeconomic factors amplify biological vulnerabilities in preterm infants, increasing risks for emotional and cognitive difficulties.
- A 'double jeopardy' exists for preterm infants born to low-income parents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a home visitor intervention for high-risk infants.
- To determine if increased maternal involvement and responsiveness can act as a protective factor.
- To ameliorate or prevent later developmental problems in vulnerable infants.
Main Methods:
- A preventive intervention project providing supportive home visitor services.
- Targeting parents of sick preterm infants from low-income families.
- Hypothesizing that increased maternal commitment and responsiveness would be protective.
Main Results:
- (Study results not detailed in the abstract, but the hypothesis is stated.)
Conclusions:
- (Study conclusions not detailed in the abstract, but the hypothesis is stated.)
Abstract:
Infants born preterm are, as a group, at increased risk for a wide variety of later developmental problems (Kopp and Parmelee 1979), although many preterm infants do well (Hack et al. 1983; Saigal et al. 1984). The perinatal vulnerability, however, is amplified in disadvantaged families (Sameroff and Chandler 1975), increasing the likelihood of later emotional and cognitive difficulties (Werner and Smith 1977). A preventive intervention project was designed, therefore, that would provide and then evaluate the effectiveness of supportive home visitor services to parents of infants who were at double jeopardy, both biologically and socially--that is, sick preterm infants being reared by low-income parents. E. Baxter, K. Weiler and I hypothesized that if intervention could increase mothers' involvement and level of responsive interactions with their children, that increased maternal commitment and responsiveness to the infant would act as a protective factor ameliorating or preventing later problems in the child (Beckwith and Cohen 1984; Werner and Smith 1982).