The Newborn as a Person: Enabling Healthy Infant Development Worldwide

by J. Kevin Nugent, Bonnie Petrauskas, T. Berry Brazelton

Overview

Recent advances in the fields of psychology and psychiatry support the perspective that infants are not, as it was once thought, passive recipients of sensory stimulation, but are instead competent and unique individuals, ready to interact with their caregivers from the very beginning of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470482773
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/22/2008
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

J. Kevin Nugent is the founder and Director of the Brazelton Institute at Children's Hospital in Boston and is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School'in the Department of Pediatrics. He is also Professor of Child and Family Studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is coauthor, with Dr. Brazelton, of the Neonatal Behavior and Assessment Scale.

Bonnie J. Petrauskas is the Director of Johnson & Johnson Corporate Contributions and Community Relations.

T. Berry Brazelton, PhD, is a noted pediatrician and author of many scholarly and popular books on infants and toddlers. He is the Chair of the Pediatrics Department of Harvard Medical School, creator of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, and is nationally recognized as "America's most celebrated baby doctor since Benjamin Spock."

Table of Contents

Part I. Looking Back.

Chapter 1. The Discovery of the Human Newborn: A Brief History (J. Kevin Nugent, PhD).

Part II. Contemporary Research And Practice: International Perspectives Research on Newborn Behavior and Development.

Chapter 2. Predicting Development for Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants: Sweden (Karin Stjernqvist, PhD).

Chapter 3. The Effects of Newborn Massage: U.S.A. (Tiffany Field, PhD).

Chapter 4. Perinatal Factors Influencing Development: Spain (Carme Costas-Moragas, PhD).

Chapter 5. Supporting Parents of At-Risk Infants: Lessons from Japan (Shohei Ohgi, PhD and Tomitaro Akiyama, MD).

Chapter 6. The Cultural Context of the Mother-Infant Relationship: Korea (Yeonghee Shin, RN, PhD and Byunghi Park, EdD).

Chapter 7. Moments of Meeting: Pivotal Moments in Mother, Infant, Father Bonding: Switzerland (Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern, MD).

Chapter 8. The Developmental Niche of the Young Infant: Kenya (Charles M. Super, PhD and Sara Harkness, PhD, MPH).

Early Intervention with Infants and Families.

Chapter 9. Early Intervention and Fatherhood: Denmark(Hanne Munck, Cand. Psych.).

Chapter 10. A Model for Working in Community Health Settings: The U.K. (Joanna Hawthorne, PhD and Betty Hutchon, SROT).

Chapter 11. Using the NBO with At-Risk Infants and Families: U.S.A. (Yvette Blanchard, ScD, PT).

Chapter 12. Early Intervention in an Australian Setting (Beulah Warren, MA Hons).

Chapter 13. Reaching Out to Rural Communities: A Community Health Model: Thailand (Nittaya Jirathiyut Kotchabhakdi, MD, MS (MCH) and Naiphinich Kotchabhakdi, PhD).

Chapter 14. Maternal-Child and Family Nursing and Preventive Intervention: U.S A. (Kristie Brandt, RN, CNM, MSN, ND).

New Models in Training Health Care Professionals.

Chapter 15. The Touchpoints Approach (Ann Coleman Stadtler, MSN, CPNP and John Hornstein, EdD).

Chapter 16. The Newborn as a Touchpoint: Training Pediatricians in Portugal (João Gomes-Pedro, PhD, MD).

Chapter 17. Humanizing the Infant: France (Drina Candilis-Huisman, PhD and Marie Fabre-Grenet, MD).

Chapter 18. The NBAS in a North Carolina Clinical Setting: Hospital and Home (James M. Helm, PhD and Marie A. Reilly, PT, PhD).

Chapter 19. Relationship-Based Practice in the Newborn Nursery: Thoughts for the Pediatric Professional: USA (Constance Keefer, MD, Lise Carolyn Johnson, MD, and Susan Minear, MD).

Chapter 20. Preparing Professionals to Work with Newborns: The Brazelton Institute Experience: USA (Jean Gardner Cole, MS, Cecilia F. Matson, MA, and Thembi Ranuga, MPH, MS, APRN-BC).

Chapter 21. Integrating Developmental Principles into the Daily Work of Health Professionals: Italy (Gherardo Rapisardi, MD Adrienne Davidson, MS, BPT, Roberto Paludetto, MD, and Giuseppina Mansi, PhD).

Part III. Looking Towards The Future.

Chapter 22. A View from the Lab (Rachel Keen, PhD).

Chapter 23. Parent-Infant Bonding and Doula Support (John H. Kennell, MD).

Chapter 24. The Brazelton Baby: The Other Side of the Coin (Ed Tronick, PhD).

Chapter 25. Evolving Family Dynamics and Neonatal Assessment (Bonnie J. Petrauskas).

Chapter 26. Future Dialogue Between the Neurosciences and the Behavioral Observation of Infants (Daniel N. Stern, MD and Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern, MD).

Chapter 27. The Role of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale: Personal Reflections (T. Berry Brazelton, MD).

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Jay P. Goldsmith, MD (Tulane University School of Medicine)
Description: This book summarizes over four decades of research on the capacities of newborns to learn, feel, and interact with other humans and their environment. Written by the researchers who did the original work and are the recognized world experts in early childhood care and development, this landmark book is a celebration of how this work has changed healthcare and childcare practices all over the world.
Purpose: The purpose is to review the findings of international researchers on newborn behavior and development in an attempt to begin to answer the question of whether developmental interventions can change the lives of children, especially those born with potential handicaps. These are indeed worthy objectives and the book goes a long way toward achieving this goal.
Audience: It is intended for pediatricians, neonatologists, and any healthcare providers who care for neonates and infants. It will also be useful for professionals and students in child psychology, public health, and child psychiatry as well as early childhood educators. The authors are recognized as the most knowledgeable authorities in this field.
Features: The book begins with a historical review of the "discovery of the human newborn," discussing changes in the appreciation of newborn behavior since the development of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) by T. Berry Brazelton in 1973. It then goes on to review research and practice in different countries around the world, citing new models for behavioral intervention and models for training healthcare professionals. The book concludes with six chapters which look into the future, discussing such divergent topics as laboratory projects on the newborn's sensitivity to sound to the use of doulas to promote parent-infant bonding. There is very little art in the book and few tables. Although the NBAS is published elsewhere, I would have liked to have seen a well done description, with pictures and problems in its administration, from the people with the most experience in performing this evaluation.
Assessment: This is a festschrift of the NBAS and its influence on newborn care practices over the last nearly half century. It shows how far we have come in our appreciation of newborn behavior and the influences which shape the lives of our children. Hopefully, this milestone will be one of many in this pursuit as this group of researchers and others give us more tools to improve the outcomes of our children, especially those born prematurely, sick, or with handicaps.

Doody's Review Service

The Newborn as a Person: Enabling Healthy Infant Development Worldwide is a tribute to these 35 years of clinical and empirical use of the NBAS and attests to its immense impact on the way we conceptualize the infant. Its chapters are short and user friendly; provide concrete clinical examples; cover a range of topics; and are written by neonatalogists, pediatricians, psychologists, nurses, anthropologists, occupational therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists, all with hands-on experience in neonatal care. The first part of the book provides a historical perspective on newborn behavior and early relationship research, addressing some of the changes the field has experienced during the last three and a half decades.
In the second part, clinicians and researchers from around the world present current studies and contemporary practices of newborn care, discuss the effects of early interventions with infants and families, and describe new approaches to the education and training of health care professionals. This section presents a range of topics- from longitudinal follow-ups of premature infants that link long-term outcomes to NBAS factors measured at birth, to the effects of massage, to relationship-based interventions in rural and urban settings and across the world.
Of special interest to us is the description of the interface between neonate and culture, as discussed by Super and Harkness following their experience with the Kipsigis of Kenya. They demonstrate that cultural meaning systems, child care practices, and daily routines not only define the way mothers perceive their infants but also shape the newborn’s actual functioning and areas of competence. Due to the fact that, at present, 94 percent if the studies on infant development come from North America or Europe (Celia, 2004), the knowledge we have of infant development, as well as the theoretical frameworks we have for interpreting it, is based on observations conducted in highly specific contexts. A cross cultural viewpoint is thus critical to afford a broader vision of the infant as he or she is shaped by a range of cultural contexts.
The last part of the book points to future directions. It opens the discussion on how the new body of knowledge gained through the NBAS should be integrated with the second major revolution of the century—that of the brain—and incorporated into policy making and professional training for those who care for newborns and their families.
—Reviewed by Ruth Feldman and Dalia Silberstein (Online reviews Journal of the American Psychological Association. September 9, 2009 edition, Volume 54, Issue 36)

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