L’NVA come strumento di valutazione della relazione madre-bambino: studio in popolazioni a rischio per sviluppo atipico in prematurità e sindrome di down NVA as a tool for assessing mother-child interaction: study of a population at risk for atypical development due to premature birth or down’s syndrome

Objective: In this study we analysed the relationship between mother and child using the Neuropsychomotor Video Analysis of parent and child interaction (NVA) (Moioli et al., 2010). This instrument was created in order to analyse and decode videotaped sequences of mother-child interactions in the first three years after birth. Two populations with atypical development were considered, with a first group consisting of children with Down syndrome and the second group of children born preterm. Video feedback meetings were arranged only for the second group and the effect of this (additional) approach was verified with a second videotape recording. Methodology: The sample included 29 children younger than 30 months divided into two subgroups: 10 children with the Down syndrome (5 females=50% and 5 males=50%; average age=16.40 months, sd=9.00) and 19 premature children (G.A.< 36 weeks) (10 females=53% and 9 males=47%; average age=11.53 months, sd=6.88) and a control group of 22 children of the same age (4 males=18% and 18 females=82%). Using the ten-minute tape-recording we filled in the report card: the program was computerized thus allowing the data processing and the visualization of the bend correlating the behaviour of the child with the mothers’. Socio-demographic data were collected with the Hollingshead’s Four Factor Index (1975). Results: The NVA allowed us to highlight specific relational modalities in both the analysed groups: in case of prematurity the bends usually showed a mirror trend, with a score decrease in participatory/sensitive categories associated with higher concentration of children’s scores in removal categories and mothers’ scores in approach categories. In the Down syndrome group we found lower scores in participatory/sensitive categories; the development retardation emerges from the score increase in the removal categories, with a maternal response balanced between children’s and mothers’ behaviour. The pre/post video feedback analysis in the preterm children subgroup showed, in the second tape recording, a score increase in participatory/sensitive categories compared with the subgroups without video feedback. Conclusions: This study shows how the NVA and Feedback can be effective tools for the analysis of mother-child interaction videotape recordings. It confirms that the birth of a premature child or of a child with development problems changes mother-child relationship modality. The use of video feedbacks proved to be a significant resource for the support of the relationship between mother and child.