The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale: A validity and reliability study in a Turkish sample

Background/aim: The aim of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) is to gather a comprehensive profile of neonatal functioning by describing the full range of neonatal behavior, including competencies and strengths, as well as difficulties or deviations. This instrument has proved to be of great clinical value by detecting infants at risk for later developmental problems. This work was conducted methodologically with the aim of a Turkish validity and reliability study of the BNBAS. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in a large tertiary hospital in Turkey. After establishing content and language validity, the BNBAS was applied to 380 newborns aged 1­3 days and test­retest analysis was performed for 60 newborns 52­55 days later in the first phase. The validity and reliability study of the BNBAS included behavior and support subscales, while reflex items were not included. Results: In the study, 5 items were excluded from the original BNBAS after the factor analysis. Cronbach alpha was found as 0.974 (30 items). The behavior subscale consisted of 23 items and the support subscale consisted of 7 items. Newborns showed good overall tone and activity level and low amounts of irritable behavior. Conclusion: It may be recommended to use the BNBAS as a valid and reliable measurement tool in neonatal behavioral evaluation by physicians and nurses.

Effect of late-onset fetal growth restriction on organization of behavioral state in infants.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze whether late-onset fetal growth restriction (FGR) alters regulatory capability in infants, and whether this can be detected using both the neonatal behavior assessment scale (NBAS) and brainstem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEP). METHODS: The diagnosis of FGR was made on Doppler examination in the third trimester of pregnancy. NBAS and BAEP measurement were performed at 1 month of corrected postnatal age. RESULTS: The group with late-onset FGR was integrated with 17 infants and the control group consisted of 14 subjects. The NBAS range of state score, which reflects organization of behavioral state, was low in infants with late-onset FGR. No differences were found in BAEP between groups. No association between NBAS and BAEP was detected. CONCLUSION: Late-onset FGR has a deleterious effect on NBAS range of state, but possibly does not alter BAEP response. It is proposed that regulatory capabilities in the neonatal period play a primary role in subtle cognitive difficulties in infants with late-onset FGR in the long term.

Effects of Maternal Education using Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale on the Mother-Infant Interaction and Infant Behavior / 아동간호학회지

This study was designed to investigate effects of maternal education using Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale(the following will be marked as NBAS) on the mother-infant interaction and infant behavior. The subjects of this study consisted of 48 pairs of normal mother and infant, 24 pairs for intervention group and 24 pairs for control group. The subjects were recruited from two general hospitals, and an OBGY clinic located in J city. The data were collected from July 30, 2001 to October 6, 2001. Prior to investigation and data collection, following operational hypotheses were set up in order to compare the investigative data against these operational hypotheses(H). H1: Intervention group will higher mother-infant interaction score than control group. H2: Intervention group infants will higher overall performance in infant behavior test score than control group infants. The results of this study were summarized as follows: 1. The mother-infant interaction score was 59.79 points in intervention group and 53.91 points in control group. The mother-infant interaction score of intervention group showed significant difference than control group. Therefore, hypothesis 1 was supported. 2. The infant behavior score of intervention group was significantly higher than control group, but partially. Therefore, hypothesis 2 was partially supported. 1) The social interaction(orientation) score was 46.58 points in intervention group and 43.50 points in control group. The orientation score of intervention group showed significant difference than control group. 2) The state regulation score was 26.79 points in intervention group and 25.33 points in control group. The state regulation score of intervention group showed significant difference than control group. In conclusion, present work demonstrated that maternal education using NBAS is an effective intervention method for promotion of mother-infant interaction and of infant behavior development. Author believes that many inexperience young mother may find NBAS-based maternal education beneficial for their nursing babies, therefore NBAS-based intervention is recommended to be adopted routinely as an integral part of neonatal nursing strategies.