"PremieStart" maternal & infant programme: Feasibility study Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility of using the "PremieStart" maternal and premature infant attachment development programme in a neonatal unit in England.
IRAS ID
144892
Contact name
Alexandra Dibley
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 28 days
Research summary
Feasibility study of the 'PremieStart' programme for mothers and their premature infants in an English neonatal unit.
"PremieStart" is a nine individual session programme developed in Australia through research by Newnham et al. (2009) and Milgrom et al. (2010). The original programme was based on the Mother Infant Transaction Programme (Achenbach et al. 1993) but with the addition of kagaroo care(skin to skin contact), bathing and baby massage. The programme is for mothers and their premature infants and is designed to support the development of the relationship between a mother and her infant. The "PremmieStart" programme has not been used in England but it is used in Australia since randomised controlled trials found it supported brain development (white matter) of premature infants (Milgrom et al., 2010).
Each individual session is 30 to 45 minutes long; the first seven will take place on the unit with mother and infant and the last two at a location convenient for the mother. The programme includes sessions on play, reading infant cues, acknowledging emotional responses to infant, and acknowledging maternal wellbeing (mental and physical health) impact on the relationship with their infant.
The measures will be completed at the first and ninth session. The following measures will be used:
-Mothers self report measure of her wellbeing- The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (Tennant et al., 2007).
-Mothers perception of relationship with infant- Maternal Attachment Scale (Condon and Corkingdale, 1998).
-An objective measure of the mother-infant relationship- 3 minute video of play between mother and infant analysed using the CareIndex (Crittenden, 2004).
-Parent Development Interview Revised Short Form semi structured interview exploring mothers ability to keep infant in mind (called 'reflective Functioning') (Slade et al. 2003).Both mothers and staff on the neonatal unit will be asked to provide feedback about the programme at the end by a questionnaire.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SW/1110
Date of REC Opinion
15 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion