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Recorded interventions promote positive parenting behaviors, enhance infant outcomes
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Review of video recordings during intervention sessions helped to instill positive parenting practices, such as reading and playing, which improved emotional outcomes among infants in low-income families, according to research in Pediatrics.
“The present study found that low-cost, pediatric parenting interventions beginning in early infancy and delivered before the identification of behavior problems can have meaningful effects on socioemotional development during the toddler period,” Adriana Weisleder, PhD, of the department of pediatrics at the New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center, and colleagues wrote. “These findings are important because of increasing evidence that socioemotional capacities are critical to school readiness and predict a range of adult outcomes across domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance use and mental health.”
The researchers analyzed a cohort of 463 mother-newborn pairs — primarily Hispanic mothers who were born abroad — by classifying them into three groups. Study groups included a video-recorded intervention group, known as the Video Interaction Project (VIP); a pamphlet and educational material group, known as Building Blocks; and a control group. During VIP sessions, play and shared reading interactions were engaged by researchers through learning materials, after which parents reviewed a recording of the session to reinforce positive behaviors. Members of the Building Blocks intervention received pamphlets and learning materials for use at home. The researchers assessed socioemotional outcomes of children at age 14 and 24 months, using the Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment-Revised.
Study results indicated that children in the VIP cohort scored higher than the controls in imitation/play and attention, at both ages. Children in the Building Blocks group scored highest in attention at 14 months and imitation/play at 24 months, although neither result was statistically significant. The researchers also found that children in the VIP cohort scored lower than controls on measures related to separation distress, hyperactivity and externalizing problems.
“Given the potential for low cost and population-level reach of primary care interventions, these findings suggest that the pediatric platform should play an important role in primary prevention of poverty-related disparities in school readiness,” Weisleder and colleagues wrote. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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