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The Recorded Interaction Task: A Validation Study of a New Observational Tool to Assess Mother‐Infant Bonding
Author(s) -
Edwards Hannah,
BuismanPijlman Femke TA,
Esterman Adrian,
Phillips Craig,
Orgeig Sandra,
Gordon Andrea
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of midwifery and women's health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.543
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1542-2011
pISSN - 1526-9523
DOI - 10.1111/jmwh.13217
Subject(s) - observational study , observational methods in psychology , psychology , developmental psychology , face validity , clinical psychology , medicine , psychometrics , pathology
Mother‐infant bonding describes the early emotional connectedness between a mother and her infant. The quality of the mother‐infant bond early in life is related to the subsequent quality of the child's attachment, the quality of further mother‐infant interactions, and various other social outcomes across the child's life span. The Recorded Interaction Task (RIT) was developed to assess mother‐infant bonding using observational methods in a naturalistic but standardized setting, thus addressing shortcomings of previous self‐report tools. The RIT focusses on the common interaction between mother and infant (aged 2 to 5 months old), during a diaper (nappy) change. The interaction is video recorded and later assessed. The RIT must be validated before it can be used to assess mother‐infant bonding in future research or in clinical practice. Methods Face and content validity of the RIT were assessed by a panel of 6 experts in bonding and assessment of maternal and infant behavior. The RIT and self‐reported Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ) were administered to 15 mother‐infant dyads with the correlation between their scores used to assess convergent validity. Results Acceptable face and content validity of the RIT was demonstrated. A weak correlation between the RIT and PBQ ( r = −0.13) and their subscales ( r = −0.22) were observed. A strong correlation between the RIT maternal behavior and infant behavior subscales was recorded ( r = 0.69). Discussion The RIT appears to be a viable tool for the observational assessment of mother‐infant bonding. Reliability testing and piloting will be required before the RIT can be used in future research or clinical practice.