1. Assessing mother-infant bonding: reliability of the recorded interaction task.
- Author
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Edwards, Hannah, Buisman-Pijlman, Femke TA, Esterman, Adrian, Phillips, Craig, Smart, Larissa, Orgeig, Sandra, and Gordon, Andrea
- Subjects
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RESEARCH methodology evaluation , *SCIENTIFIC observation , *PUERPERIUM , *MOTHERS , *ATTACHMENT behavior , *PARENTING , *MOTHER-infant relationship , *MOTHERHOOD , *COMPARATIVE studies , *INTER-observer reliability ,RESEARCH evaluation - Abstract
This study examined the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the Recorded Interaction Task (RIT); a novel tool to assess mother-infant bonding via observational methods. Mother-infant bonding describes the reciprocal early emotional connection between mother and infant. Whilst various tools exist to assess mother-infant bonding, many incorrectly confuse this construct with mother-infant attachment. Further, available tools are limited to those that employ self-report methods, thus may reflect perceived behaviour, rather than actual behaviour. The RIT is a novel tool for observational assessment of mother-infant bonding. A standard interaction between mother and infant is recorded, and later assessed against specified bonding-related behaviours. Before its use in research, reliability testing must be undertaken to ensure the RIT may be used consistently. The RIT was administered to 15 mother-infant dyads. Participant recordings were assessed by three trained raters at two time points, using the RIT observation scoring sheet. Intra-rater reliability was determined by comparing scores at each time point for each rater. Inter-rater reliability was determined by assessing reliability of scores at the first time point. Strong intra-rater reliability (ICC >0.86) and fair inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.55) were observed. The current findings support the RIT's potential to reliably assess mother-infant bonding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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