Interactive behaviors and mother-infant and father-infant synchrony: identification and intervention

Abstract

This study aims to describe and compare interactive behaviors and synchrony from mother-child and father-child dyads in free interaction and in Face to Face Still-Face procedure (FFSF) by three / four months and six / seven months, boys and girls, before and after an intervention based on video shootings of the interaction. 40 to 60 mother-child / father-child dyads will take part of the study, identified by service records of an extension program which follows the infants' development during their first year of life. The study will have two stages - Stage 1 (with three / four-month-old infants): video shooting of mother-infant and father-infant free interactions and in Face to Face Still-Face procedure; analysis of interactive behaviors of the maternal/paternal infants and their synchrony using specific protocols; identification of dyads which meet the established criteria for intervention; individual intervention with father and / or mother in order to promote improvements in interactions with their infants based on snippets of video shootings in which mother / father deliver positive or negative interactive behaviors, and presence / absence of synchrony with their infant. At the end of the intervention, a new video shooting with the two procedures will be recorded. Stage 2 (with six / seven-month-old infants) - fathers / mothers who experienced the intervention and parents who did not meet the criteria will be invited to repeat the video recording procedures. The same procedures from the previous stage will be performed. Analysis between groups will be conducted comparing the interaction context (free or FFSF), dyads of parents, age (three / four months and six / seven months) and sex of the baby and also intra groups, assessing the interaction before and after the intervention. Studying mother-infant / father-infant interactions helps to identify variables which influence them and, since they constitute a risk, plan interventions in order to minimize its effects on the child development.