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Mother-Very Preterm Infant Relationship Quality: RCT of Baby Triple P

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Abstract

This study examined intervention outcomes for mothers and their preterm infants. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the parenting intervention Baby Triple P (BTP) for parents’ of very preterm infants (<32-weeks gestational age), on the quality of the mother–infant relationship and a mother’s attachment and responsiveness to her infant at 6-weeks and 12-months corrected-age. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 families being randomly assigned to the BTP or Care as Usual groups. The primary outcome was the quality of the mother-very preterm infant relationship which was evaluated in a mother-infant observation and measured by the Emotional Availability Scales. Secondary outcomes were maternal attachment as measured by the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale and maternal responsiveness as measured by the Maternal Infant Responsiveness Instrument. The results showed that at 6-weeks corrected-age, no significant differences were found between groups on the outcome measures. At 12-months corrected-age, the Care as Usual mothers scored significantly higher for self-reported maternal attachment compared to the BTP mothers. This study found no evidence that BTP improved the quality of the mother-very preterm infant relationship, maternal attachment or responsiveness at 6-weeks corrected-age or 12-months corrected-age. Results will be examined at 24-months corrected-age to determine if BTP impacts on child behavior, emotional problems, cognitive development, language and motor abilities.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the families from the RBWH and MMH who participated in this study. We also acknowledge the Chief Investigators on the larger project: Prof Paul Colditz, Prof Matthew Sanders, Prof Roslyn Boyd, Dr Margo Pritchard, Assoc Prof Peter Gray, Assoc Prof Michael O’Callaghan, Prof Virginia Slaughter, Dr Koa Whittingham; the associate investigators: Prof Peter O’Rourke and Dr Luke Jardine; the RBWH staff: Dr Leanne Winter and Ms Karen Taylor; and the MMH staff: Dr Kylee Forest and Ms Judith Macey.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, The School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Tracey Evans, Roslyn N. Boyd & Koa Whittingham

  2. The School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Tracey Evans & Koa Whittingham

  3. Perinatal Research Centre, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Tracey Evans & Paul Colditz

  4. The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Paul Colditz

  5. Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Matthew Sanders

Authors
  1. Tracey Evans
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  2. Roslyn N. Boyd
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  3. Paul Colditz
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  4. Matthew Sanders
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  5. Koa Whittingham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tracey Evans.

Ethics declarations

We declare the following conflict of interest

The authors declare they have the following competing interests: The Triple P-Positive Parenting Program is owned by the University of Queensland (UQ). The University through its main technology transfer company UniQuest Pty Limited has licensed Triple P International Pty Ltd to disseminate the program worldwide. Matthew Sanders is on academic staff at the Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland and is an author of Triple P programs. Koa Whittingham, Roslyn Boyd and Paul Colditz are academic staff at The University of Queensland within the School of Medicine. Koa Whittingham also has an honorary appointment with the School of Psychology.

We declare the following financial disclosure

Royalties stemming from the dissemination of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program are distributed in accordance with the University’s intellectual property policy and flow to the Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, UQ; Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences; and contributory authors. No author has any share or ownership in Triple P International Pty Ltd. At time of publishing Baby Triple P has not been disseminated.

We declare the following Funding Source

Paul Colditz has received a research grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Project Grant Number: 1024345); Tracey Evans has received a Research Higher Degree Scholarship, The University of Queensland (Grant 2106924); Roslyn Boyd has received a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Career Development Fellowship (Grant 1037220) (RB); Koa Whittingham has received a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Post-Doctoral Fellow (Grant 631712)

Research Involving Human Participants

Ethical approval was obtained from Queensland Children’s Health Services, Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/08/QRCH/114) and The University of Queensland (2008002268) and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

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Evans, T., Boyd, R.N., Colditz, P. et al. Mother-Very Preterm Infant Relationship Quality: RCT of Baby Triple P. J Child Fam Stud 26, 284–295 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0555-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0555-x

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