During
this year Robin Roberts, Parents As Teachers (PAT) State Coordinator in North
Carolina initiated research to evaluated the benefit (or not) of HUG Your
Baby's training and resources for PAT professionals. She recruited parent
educators from across the state who wanted to enhance their care of newborns
and their families.
(Partial) Review of Literature:
Research
confirms that when mothers receive effective parent education they experience
increased confidence, increased sensitivity to their babies, enhanced
maternal-infant interactive skills, and a more positive perception of their
infants (Fulton, Mastergeorge, Steele, Hansen, 2012; Nugent, Petrauskas, &
Brazelton, 2009). Parents who understand and respond effectively to
changes in a baby’s states and to stress responses increase that newborn’s
ability to eat, play, and learn, and decreases the baby’s shutting down
response (Papousek, Schieche, & Wurmser, 2008; Tronick & Beeghly,
2011). Therefore, new parents need information that helps them read their
baby’s body language and recognize their baby’s capabilities (Karl &
Keefer, 2011). Furthermore, parent learning is enhanced when information is demonstrated rather
than simply described (Gardner & Deatrick, 2006) and is
offered in language that is familiar to parents.
PAT
Study:
Eighteen
parent educators participated in this pilot program. They completed HUG's online courses: "Helping Parents
Understand their Newborn" (Part I) and "HUG Strategies and Skill
Building" (Part II). Participants then utilized The HUG 20-minute parent education DVD and their HUG
skills with their clients.
A
Pre- and Post-Test confirmed that professional participants significantly
increased both their knowledge about newborn behavior and their confidence to
teach young parents.
- The average pre-training score
was 51.2% correct. The average post-training score was 73.5%
correct. The difference in the means of the pre and post
training scores is significant at the 95% level. (See Figure 1)
- The
average pre-training confidence score was 2.5 (on a 4-point scale from
Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree). The average post-training
score was 3.6. Ten of the fifteen items were significantly different
at the 95% level; three were so at the 90% level, and two items were not
significantly different.
What professionals had to say about the HUG Your Baby program:
Overall,
participants were very satisfied. Following are some comments by these
professionals.
- "HUG works great with
teens."
- "...incredible to see
parents learn and understand the stages of development."
- "...easy to use this
online course."
- "Easy to use the HUG DVD
to enhance parent visits..."
- "Practical tool to use
with families."
- They gained knowledge about
their baby
- They could articulate at least
one specific area of learning
- Even second and third time
parents had much to learn from HUG Your Baby
Parent’s response to HUG
teaching:
Forty-seven of forty-eight (98%) parents provided
substantive answers to an open-ended question about what they learned. Forty-four
of 48 (92%) answered that HUG Your Baby could improve their parenting by giving
them information about and skills to: better understand their baby, understand their baby’s
sleep and crying cycles, get their baby to the best state for eating and playing, and
appreciate their baby’s ability to pay attention. They reported feeling more
confident as parents and would recommend The HUG to others.
Contact information:
HUG
Your Baby looks forward to collaborating with national PAT leadership about the
possibility of making HUG resources and training available to the larger PAT
community.
For
more information contact: Robin Roberts, NC State Coordinator -
(robin.roberts@ncpat.org) and/or Jan Tedder, HUG Your Baby President -
(hugyourbaby@earthlink.net)
Partial bibliography:
- Fulton, J.,
Mastergeorge, A., Steele,J., Hansen, R. (2012). Maternal perceptions of
the infant: Relationship to maternal self-efficacy during the first six
weeks' postpartum. Infant Mental Health Journal. 33(4)
329-338.
- Gardner, M., Deatrick, J. (2006). Understanding interventions and outcomes in mothers of infants. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 29, 25-55.
- Karl,
D., Keefer, C. (2011). Use of the Behavioral Observation of the Newborn
Education Training for teaching newborn behavior. JOGNN Jan;
40(1):75-83.
- Nugent,
K., Petrauskas, B., Brazelton, B. (2009). The Newborn as a Person.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc
- Papousek,
M., Schieche, M., & Wurmser, H. (2008). Disorders of
Behavioral and Emotional Regulation in the First Years of Life. Washington,
DC: Zero to Three Press.
- Tronick,
E. & Beeghly, M. (2011). Infants’ meaning-making and the development
of mental health problems. Am Psychol 66(2):107-119.