Effects of Attachment-Based Intervention on Low-Income Latino Children's Emerging Health Outcomes
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Summary
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the impacts of an attachment-based intervention (Attachment Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC) and Home Book-of-the-Week (HBOW) program on emerging health outcomes (i.e., common childhood illnesses, body mass index, and sleep) in low-income Latino children (N=260; 9 months at enrollment). It is hypothesized that children randomized to ABC will have better health outcomes in comparison to the HBOW control group.
Description
The proposed RCT will test the impacts of the Attachment Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) intervention program on child health outcomes. A total of 260 male and female infants will be enrolled in this study, with an age range of 8-12 months (infant) and 13 months- 23 months (toddler). This study will enroll primiparous and multiparous mothers who identify as Latina, speak English or Spanish, and have a 9-month-old child enrolled in Medicaid at the start of the study. Participants will be recruited in collaboration with the Children's Medical Practice (CMP) at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center a…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 0–1 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Biological mothers * Identify as Latina * Speak English or Spanish * Primiparous and multiparous * Have a 9-month-old child enrolled in Medicaid Exclusion Criteria: * Children born prematurely (gestational age \< 37 weeks) * Children who have major complex medical conditions (e.g., heart or autoimmune conditions) that could interfere with participation in intervention sessions and/or research assessments.
Interventions
- BehavioralAttachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up
The ABC program consists of 10 one-hour home-based sessions delivered by a trained parent coach. Each session includes the mother and her child together and addresses a specific topic. Principal intervention activities include a discussion of basic attachment principles, guided practice of new parenting behaviors, and a review of video clips from previous sessions to help reinforce parenting targets. The parent coach promotes (a) nurturance, especially in response to distress; (b) following the child's lead with delight; and (c) avoiding frightening caregiving behavior. As specified by the ABC protocol, any/all other family members will be invited to observe or participate in each ABC session Each full-time ABC parent coach will serve 8 to 10 families at a time (i.e., complete 8-10 hourly ABC visits per week).
- OtherHome-Based Book-of-the-Week
The HBOW program is an active control condition developed by PI Berlin. It consists of 10 English/Spanish developmentally appropriate books hand-delivered weekly to the mothers. During each of the 10 weeks, a trained RA will visit each HBOW mother to drop off the book and to ask briefly about the mother's and child's well-being (using a standard set of questions). Thus, this condition will parallel the intervention condition in duration (number of weeks) and structure, although it will be less intensive in terms of participant contact time per visit.
Location
- University of MarylandBaltimore, Maryland