Clinical trial NCT01764958: Association Between Mother-Infant Attunement During Interaction and the Quality of General Movements
Official title: Association Between Mother-Infant Attunement During Interaction and the Quality of General Movements and Motor Development of Preterm Infants
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Premature Birth
Keywords: mother-infant interaction
general movements
preterm infants
Lead sponsor: Assuta Hospital Systems
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2013-01-10
Enrollment: 61
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 4
Maximum age (years): 8
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Preterm infants at a corrected age of 3-4 months and their mothers

Brief summary: 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: 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.

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

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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.

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Primary outcomes:
measure: Better maternal attunement of holding and touch will be associated with better quality of spontaneous movements of the infants.
timeFrame: Assesed at 3-4 months corrected age of the infants
Secondary outcomes:
measure: 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.
timeFrame: 3-4 months corrected age of the infants
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Nazareth Illit
country: Israel
facility: Maccabi Healthcare services
Study officials:
affiliation: Assuta Hospital, Tel Aviv
name: Orna Lev enacab, BPT
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: