Exploring health visiting professionals' evaluations of early parent-infant interactions
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
ISSN
1469-672X
Volume
37
Issue
5
First Page
554
Last Page
565
PubMed ID
31280629
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
29133
Abstract
Objective: To examine the accuracy of Health Visitors (HVs) evaluations of the quality of parent-infant interactions.
Background: HVs have been identified as key professionals in the early identification of difficulties in parent-infant interactions.
Method: A sample of 56 HVs, 4 Family Health Nurses (FHNs) and 14 Community Nursery Nurses (CNNs) recruited from two National Health Service (NHS) Trusts, viewed video footage of six early parent-infant interactions which had been categorised as ‘sensitive’, ‘mixed’, and ‘problematic’ using the CARE-Index. Participants evaluated the quality of the parent-infant interactions shown in these videos using the Parent-Infant Interaction Rating Questionnaire (PIIRQ).
Results: On average, participants correctly rated the problematic videos as lowest in quality, the mixed as higher in quality than the problematic videos, and the sensitive videos as highest in quality. Interestingly, within the problematic category participants rated the ‘unresponsive’ pattern of interaction as significantly lower in quality than the ‘controlling’ interaction.
Conclusions: Findings suggest participants were relatively accurate in their evaluations of parent-infant interactions. However, they indicate that participants were more likely to be concerned about unresponsive, as opposed to controlling, interactive behaviours. Recommendations for further research include exploration of potential differences in how health-visiting professionals evaluate particular patterns of parent-infant interactions.
DOI
10.1080/02646838.2019.1637831
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Elmer, J. R., O’Shaughnessy, R., Bramwell, R., & Dickson, J. M. (2019). Exploring health visiting professionals’ evaluations of early parent-infant interactions. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 37(5), 554-565.
Available here.