Early home intervention with low-birth-weight infants and their parents

We investigated the effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a developmental intervention, a parent-infant intervention, and a no-treatment control group. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Both intervention approaches...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 1986-02, Vol.57 (1), p.20-33
Main Authors: Barrera, M.E, Rosenbaum, P.L, Cunningham, C.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Child Development
Children
Cognitive development
Control groups
family relations
Female
Home Care Services
Humans
Infant, Low Birth Weight - psychology
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature - psychology
Infants
low birth weight
Male
Medical sciences
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
parent-child relationships
Parents
Pediatrics
premature birth
Psychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapies. Psychological and clinical counseling
Social Environment
Social interaction
Temperament
Treatments
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Summary:We investigated the effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a developmental intervention, a parent-infant intervention, and a no-treatment control group. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Both intervention approaches focused on the parent-child unit, providing training for parents to improve observational skills, emotional support, and information about community resources. However, whereas specific tasks to facilitate the child's development were provided in the developmental intervention group, the quality of the parent-infant interaction was the target for treatment in the other group. All infants were assessed at 4, 8, 12, and 16 months of age corrected for prematurity. The results suggest that although both intervention approaches were effective in modifying some aspects of the home environment and, to a lesser degree, in improving infants' cognitive development, the parent-infant interaction approach seemed to have the greater impact. These findings confirm previous observations regarding the cognitive development of preterm and full-term infants during the first 18 months of life and demonstrate changes in behavior and behavior styles in both pre- and full-term infants as they become older.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.2307/1130634