Citation

Schuler ME, Nair P, Black MM, Kettinger L. J. Clin. Child Psychol. 2000; 29(3): 424-431.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA. mschuler@som.umaryland.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10969426

PMCID

PMC3143381

Abstract

Examined the effects of a home-based intervention on mother-infant interaction among drug-using women and their infants. At 2 weeks postpartum, mothers and infants were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 84) or a control (n = 87) group. Control families received brief monthly tracking visits, and intervention families received weekly visits by trained lay visitors. Mother-infant interaction was evaluated at 6 months through observation of feeding. Although there were no direct effects of the intervention, in the control group, mothers who continued to use drugs were less responsive to their babies than mothers who were drug free. In the intervention group, drug use was not associated with maternal responsiveness. Weekly home-based intervention may be a protective strategy for children of drug-using women because it disrupts the relation between ongoing maternal drug use and low maternal responsiveness.

Language: en