JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There is scarcity of knowledge on the physiological and behavioural pathways that may affect the developmental outcomes of preterm infants and particularly on the link between autonomic nervous system maturation and early social human behavior. On this ground, the main aim of this study is to investigate the way heart-rate variability (HRV) parameters are related to emotional coordination in interactions of preterm and full-term infants with their parents in the first year of life and the possible correlation with developmental outcomes of infants at 18 months.

Objective:

There are four objectives in this study: The first objective is to investigate the relationship between emotional coordination (EC) and HRV in dyadic full-term infant-parent (Group 1) and preterm infant-parent (Group 2) interactions in the course of the first postpartum year. The second objective is to examine the relationship between EC/HRV in Group 1 and 2 in the first postpartum year to developmental outcomes of infants at 18 months. The third objective is to investigate the role of maternal and paternal postnatal depression on the relation between EC/HRV in the two Groups and with developmental outcomes at 18 months. The fourth objective is to examine the role of family cohesion and coping on the relation between EC/HRV in the 2 Groups and with developmental outcomes at 18 months.

Methods:

This is an observational, naturalistic and longitudinal study applying a mixed-method design which includes: (1) video-recordings of mother-infant and father-infant interactions at hospital, at the neonatal period, and at home at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of infants’ life; (2) self-report questionnaires of parents on depressive symptoms, family cohesion and dyadic coping of stress; (3) infants’ HRV parameters at the neonatal period and at each of the above age points mentioned before, during and after infant-parent video-recordings; and (4) the assessment of toddler’s social and cognitive development at 18 months through an observational instrument.

Results:

The study protocol has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Crete (Number and date of decision: 170/18.09.2020). This work is supported by the Special Account for Research Funds of University of Crete, Grant Number: 10792 - 668/08.02.2021. All mothers (with their partners) of full-term and preterm infants who will give birth between March 2021 and January 2022 at the General University Hospital of Crete (northern Crete, Greece) will be invited to participate in the study. The researcher will invite the parents of infants to participate in the study 1-2 days after birth. Data collection is expected to be completed by March 2023 and the first results will be published by the end of 2023.

Conclusions:

This is a research protocol.