University of Southern California, Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, 1540 Alcazar St, Los Angeles, CA 90089, United States of America.
Self-employed, Ridgeway, CO 81432, United States of America.
Early Hum Dev. 2022 Jul;170:105609. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2022.105609. Epub 2022 Jun 14.
Parent-infant interaction is poorly understood among high-risk dyads in NICU settings. No parent-infant interaction measures are specifically designed for preterm infants within the NICU nor account for the education NICU parents receive to tailor their interactions based on the infant's cues.
To improve our understanding of a measure of parent-infant interaction in the NICU, we investigated relationships between parent-infant interaction scores on the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS) and 1) socio-demographic and medical factors, 2) parent mental health and confidence, and 3) enhanced parental education (delivered as part of the Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences program) on tailoring interactions based on the infant's cues.
Twenty-six preterm infants (born ≤32 weeks) had a video recorded oral feeding conducted by a parent in the NICU when the infant was 34-48 weeks postmenstrual age. A certified evaluator scored parent-infant interaction from the videos using the NCAFS.
Seventeen (65 %) parent-infant dyads scored below the 10th percentile on the total NCAFS score. Despite it being well-understood that parent-infant interaction is related to sociodemographic factors and parental mental health, there were no relationships between these factors and NCAFS scores in this study. Dyads who received enhanced parent education (n = 15) had lower NCAFS scores than dyads receiving usual care (n = 11) (p = 0.01).
It remains unclear if the standard measure of parent-infant interaction, NCAFS, captured positive and negative interactions in context of assessment of a high-risk dyad within the NICU setting. The utility of the NCAFS with preterm infants in the NICU was not supported by this study.
在新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）环境中，高危母婴对子的父母-婴儿互动理解较差。目前还没有专门为 NICU 中的早产儿设计的父母-婴儿互动措施，也没有考虑到 NICU 父母接受的教育，以根据婴儿的暗示调整他们的互动。
为了更好地了解 NICU 中父母-婴儿互动的测量方法，我们调查了护理婴儿评估喂养量表（NCAFS）上的父母-婴儿互动评分与以下方面之间的关系：1）社会人口统计学和医学因素，2）父母的心理健康和信心，以及 3）基于婴儿暗示调整互动的增强型父母教育（作为支持和增强 NICU 感觉体验计划的一部分提供）。
当婴儿的胎龄为 34-48 周时，26 名早产儿（出生时≤32 周）的父母在 NICU 中进行了视频记录的口腔喂养。一名认证评估员使用 NCAFS 从视频中对父母-婴儿互动进行评分。
17 对（65%）母婴对子的总 NCAFS 评分低于第 10 个百分位。尽管人们已经充分认识到父母-婴儿互动与社会人口统计学因素和父母心理健康有关，但在这项研究中，这些因素与 NCAFS 评分之间没有关系。接受增强型父母教育的母婴对子（n=15）的 NCAFS 评分低于接受常规护理的母婴对子（n=11）（p=0.01）。
目前尚不清楚标准的父母-婴儿互动测量方法，即 NCAFS，是否在 NICU 环境中评估高危母婴对子时捕捉到了积极和消极的互动。这项研究不支持 NCAFS 在 NICU 中用于早产儿。
