Poster #147 - Strengthening Bonds: Promoting Mother-Child Positive Interactions in Adverse Context

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

The family environment is a relevant micro-system of child development (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The positive parenting is essential to promote child development, to attend child’s demands, to take care, to protect, to guide, and to do investment in the child development trajectory (Brooks, 2013). Early childhood intervention program in large scale for public system care are necessary using innovative, technology, scientific evidence-based, and low-cost preventive programs. The IDEAS framework, proposed by the Frontiers of Innovation Initiative of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (Shonkoff & Fisher, 2013), offers a new methodology for prototype and test innovation programs in fast-cycle learning. Then, to reach scalability, the first step should focus in a feasible and valid pilot study. The present study aimed to examine the efficiency of the Strengthening Bonds Program (SBP), which purpose is to strengthen mother-child positive interactions using a video-coaching remote, in 2-6 year children. The present pilot study is based on IDEAS for prototyping innovative programs. The sample included 10 mothers and their children. The families are social vulnerable living in a stressful and violent neighborhood. The program comprises the following three strategies: (1) two home visits (pre- and post-intervention) for video recording the mother playing with her children during 20 minutes (10 min-free play and 10 min-structured situation); (2) one hour session in group of mothers to orient and discuss about the positive parameters of mother-child interactions (reciprocity, responsiveness, and adaptive directivity) and the negative parameter of intrusiveness; (3) video-coaching remote strategy sending weekly one short videoclips to the mothers´ smartphones. The innovative videoclips included two different parts: animation videos alternated with mothers own personalized video including positive feedbacks in sub-titles and emoji; in total six videoclips are sent (two for each parameter). The mother behaviors in the observational interaction situation were the following: positive interaction (responsiveness, reciprocity, and emotional tone); adaptive directivity; intrusiveness; mother-child dyad activity dynamic. The behaviors were analyzed by blinded researcher using validated categorical system of analysis. Also, self-report parenting outcomes was assessed by scales including parental sense of competence, coercive parental practice, and positive communication. Finally, the hetero-report child behavior outcome was measured. The within-group comparisons (pre- vs. post-intervention) were performed by t-paired test. The results showed that the SBP was effective to improve responsivity, reciprocity, and emotional tone (p  0.07), adaptive directivity (p  0.04), and mother-child dynamic interactions (p  0.08). There were increasing of the parenting sense of competence (p  0.09), and positive communication (p  0.03) and decreasing of coercive parental practice (p  0.03). In addition, the pro-social child behavior was improved (p  0.04). We found improvements in mother behaviors and in the mothers` perceptions about their parental practices. In conclusion, the universal remote video coaching parenting program to strengthen positive mother-child interactions enhanced the mothers' awareness about the power of positive interactions during play situations in the home by sending videoclips to the parents’ smartphone. There were promising findings of the SBP to advance to the RCT study and later scalability.

Authors

• Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares, University of São Paulo
  Presenting Author

• Elisa Rachel Pisani Altafim, University of São Paulo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claudia Maria Gaspardo, University of Sao Paulo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebeca Cristina Oliveira, University of São Paulo
  Non-Presenting Author