Using technology to improve behavioral skills in at-risk families may help during transitional periods, according to a recent study led by researchers at Georgia State University.
The National SafeCare Training and Research Center at Georgia State implements the SafeCare model, a parent training program that works to reduce child maltreatment and risk in high-risk families through structured behavioral skills training with the help of weekly home visits with families who have children up to age 5. This model focuses on teaching moms to engage with their children and stimulate infants in developmentally-appropriate ways with a goal of increasing positive bonding behaviors through looking, touching, smiling and talking.
During the study, researchers examined how technological enhancements might help parenting outcomes across a spectrum of at-risk mothers.
"Our goal is to increase positive, affective expressions from parent to infant, as research has found this to be integral to optimal infant development," said John R. Lutzker, co-author of the study and university professor and director of the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development at Georgia State. "The incorporation of a technological enhancement to intervention is a potential way to improve mastery of skills and we hypothesized that a digital picture frame would support skills learned within parent-infant sessions."
Researchers presented the information in four single-case researcher-designed studies that examined how the use of digital frames enhances parent-infant interactions based on a diverse range of mothers with varied levels of risk for maltreatment.
"The parent-infant interaction module of SafeCare has increased mother-infant interactions when the home-visitor provided written prompts and positive-corrective feedback to the mother during home visiting sessions," Lutzker said. "We found that the use of didactic or picture-based materials increases the use of bonding skills, including touching, looking, talking and smiling."
The researchers said they believe that the digital picture frames may be a cost-effective means of improving parent-infant interactions, as well as addressing the risk for child maltreatment, high or low, and potentially reducing intervention costs in the United States.
Stopping this problem early may help prevent problems that could occur down the road. Statistics show that more than 70 percent of children who died as a result of child abuse or neglect were two years of age or younger; that's more than 80 percent who were not yet old enough for kindergarten.
The study was published today in the journal Child & Family Behavioral Therapy.
