International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), New York, New York, USA.
Department of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Infant Ment Health J. 2021 May;42(3):400-412. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21917. Epub 2021 Apr 11.
A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in El Salvador of an intervention ('Thula Sana') previously shown to enhance maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in a South African sample. In El Salvador, trained community workers delivered the intervention from late pregnancy to 6 months postpartum as part of a home-visiting programme. The sample comprised 64 pregnant adolescent women, aged 14-19 years, living in predominantly rural settings. They were randomised to receive either the intervention or normal care. Demographic information was collected at baseline and, immediately post-intervention, blind assessments were made of parental sensitivity and infant emotion regulation. The intervention was found to have a substantial positive impact on maternal sensitivity. Further, compared to control group, infants in the intervention group showed more regulated behaviour: in a social challenge task they showed more attempts to restore communication, and in a non-social challenge task they showed more social and goal-directed behaviour. This replication and extension of the South African findings in a small El Salvador sample shows promise and justifies the conduct of a large-scale RCT in a Central or South American context.
一项在萨尔瓦多开展的试点随机对照试验(RCT),对一项先前在南非样本中显示可增强母婴敏感性和婴儿依恋安全性的干预措施(“Thula Sana”)进行了评估。在萨尔瓦多,经过培训的社区工作者在孕妇妊娠晚期至产后 6 个月期间,作为家访计划的一部分,提供该干预措施。该样本包括 64 名年龄在 14-19 岁之间、居住在以农村为主的环境中的青少年孕妇。她们被随机分配接受干预或常规护理。在基线时收集人口统计学信息,并在干预后立即对父母敏感性和婴儿情绪调节进行盲法评估。研究发现,该干预措施对母婴敏感性有显著的积极影响。此外,与对照组相比,干预组的婴儿表现出更具调节性的行为:在社会挑战任务中,他们表现出更多恢复沟通的尝试,而在非社会挑战任务中,他们表现出更多的社交和目标导向行为。这一在萨尔瓦多小样本中对南非研究结果的复制和扩展表明有希望,并证明在中美洲或南美洲进行大规模 RCT 的合理性。