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

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Detailed Description
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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.

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

Conditions
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Premature Birth

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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 4 Months
Maximum Age: 8 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| preterm infants and their mothers<br>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?
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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 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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mother-infant interaction, general movements, preterm infants