Effect of Parenting Training on Neurobehavioral Development of Infants

Abstract

Background: Early interventions have been believed to have a positive influence on the neurodevelopment of infants. Our Child Health Center has carried out parenting training for parents of infants for several years to promote the neurobehavioral development of infants at an early stage. Material/Methods: We enrolled 117 families with term infants age 0-3 months who had completed a parenting training class at the Child Health Center of the Department of Pediatrics, the Third Xiangya Hospital. Parenting training included 4 parts: nursing, intelligence, social contact, and physical ability. A nurse practitioner demonstrated procedures to parents, who then performed them at home for 1 month. The Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment (NBNA) was used to evaluate infants before and 1 month after parenting training. Results: In the comparative analysis before and after parenting training, there was a significant increase in the NBNA scores. For the infants whose parents received parenting training, the NBNA scores in total score (33.74±0.19 before parenting training vs. 36.69±0.20 after 1 month), neonatal behavioral capacity (10.19±0.14 before parenting training vs. 11.26±0.10 after 1 month), passive muscle tension (7.28±0.07 before parenting training vs. 7.82±0.04 after 1 month), and initiative muscle tension (4.29±0.08 before the parenting training vs. 5.61±0.13 after 1 month) were significantly higher one month before (P<0.01). Conclusions: Term infant neurobehavior was associated with participation in parenting training, suggesting that these practices of parenting training support better early neurobehavioral development of infants.

General movement assessment is correlated with neonatal behavior neurological assessment/cerebral magnetic resonance imaging in preterm infants

“…NBNA included 5 parts [ 7 ] : behavioral ability (6 items, including response to light stimulus, “panic” response, face reaction, reaction to red ball, and comfort reaction), passive muscle tension (4 items, including scarf sign, forearm Bounceback, axillary angle, and rebound of lower limbs), active muscle tension (4 items, including active contraction of the neck flexors and extensors, hand holding, traction response, and supportive erectile position), primitive reflexes (3 items, including sucking motion, embracing reflections, and stepping or placing responses), and general evaluations (3 items, including arousal, crying, and activity). Each score has 3 divisions: 0 points, 1 point, and 2 points.…”