Stefana Alberto, Lavelli Manuela, Rossi Germano, Beebe Beatrice
Independent researcher.
Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy.
Early Hum Dev. 2020 Jan;140:104888. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2019.104888. Epub 2019 Oct 25.
The first purpose of the study was to examine fathers' spontaneous communicative behavior with their preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, and how father's and infant's behaviors affected each other. The second purpose was to examine any possible association between the fathers' and/or infants' characteristics and the quality of fathers' behaviors with their infants.
STUDY DESIGN/SUBJECTS/OUTCOME MEASURES: Father-preterm infant dyads (n=20) were assessed at 34-36 weeks postmenstrual age, during a spontaneous face-to-face communication with the infant placed in a heated cot in the NICU, and coded according to the Parent-Preterm Infant Coding System.
The presence of the father's Affiliative Behavior increased the occurrences of infant Gazing at the parent's face. In turn, infant gazing increased the occurrence of paternal Affiliative Behavior. The likelihood of infant's Gazing at the father's face was also significantly elicited by infrequent occurrences of paternal Affectionate Talk, co-occurring with Gazing at infant with Positive Facial Affect (but no Touch). With regard to the predictors of quality in father-infant interactions, we found a significant positive correlation between fathers' level of depressive symptomatology and fathers' Affiliative Behavior.
Our results show the of bidirectional sequential patterns of communication between fathers and preterm infants at 35 weeks postmenstrual age, and provide important information about the quality and modalities of paternal communication and their influence on infant behavioral states. From a clinical perspective, these results suggest that father-specific interventions designed to improve and sustain fathers' positive engagement with infants in the NICU should be pursued.
本研究的首要目的是考察父亲在新生儿重症监护病房与早产婴儿的自然交流行为，以及父亲和婴儿的行为如何相互影响。第二个目的是考察父亲和/或婴儿的特征与父亲和婴儿互动质量之间是否存在任何可能的关联。
研究设计/研究对象/结果测量：选取20对父亲与早产婴儿的组合，在孕龄34 - 36周时进行评估，当时婴儿被安置在新生儿重症监护病房的暖箱中，父亲与婴儿进行自然的面对面交流，并根据《父母 - 早产婴儿编码系统》进行编码。
父亲的亲密行为的出现增加了婴儿注视父母面部的次数。反过来，婴儿的注视增加了父亲亲密行为的出现次数。父亲偶尔出现深情交谈并同时以积极面部表情注视婴儿（但无触摸）时，也会显著引发婴儿注视父亲面部的可能性。关于母婴互动质量的预测因素，我们发现父亲的抑郁症状水平与父亲的亲密行为之间存在显著正相关。
我们的结果显示了孕龄35周时父亲与早产婴儿之间双向顺序交流模式的存在，并提供了关于父亲交流质量和方式及其对婴儿行为状态影响的重要信息。从临床角度来看，这些结果表明应采取针对父亲的干预措施，以改善并维持父亲在新生儿重症监护病房与婴儿的积极互动。
