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Ninety-eight mothers of healthy firstborn infants 0 to 6 months old were randomly assigned to listen to 10-min of infant crying or infant cooing while continuously rating subjective feelings of frustration. Participants completed pre-test measures of depressed mood, empathy, and trait anger and post-test measures of infant-related harm thoughts, negative and positive emotions, and urge to comfort and to flee. Twenty-three (23.5 %) participants endorsed unwanted thoughts of active harm (e.g., throwing, yelling at, shaking the infant). Women in the cry condition were more likely than women in the coo condition to report thoughts of harm. Women in the cry condition who endorsed thoughts of harm reported higher frustration levels over the 10 min of crying, higher levels of post-test negative emotions, and stronger urges to flee the infant but not stronger urges to comfort the infant. Trait anger and personal distress empathy predicted the occurrence of unwanted thoughts of infant harm, whereas negative mood did not. Unwanted, intrusive, infant-related thoughts of harm may be triggered by prolonged infant crying, are predicted by personal distress empathy and a tendency to experience anger, and are associated with higher frustration, negative emotions, and the urge to escape the infant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newborn infants preferentially orient to familiar over unfamiliar speech sounds. They are also better at remembering unfamiliar speech sounds for short periods of time if learning and retention occur after a feed than before. It is unknown whether short-term memory for speech is enhanced when the sound is familiar (versus unfamiliar) and, if so, whether the effect is further enhanced by feeding. We used a two-factorial design and randomized infants to one of four groups: prefeed-unfamiliar, prefeed-familiar, postfeed-unfamiliar, and postfeed-familiar. Memory for either familiar or unfamiliar speech (the infant's mother saying 'baby' versus a female stranger saying 'beagle') was assessed using head turning to sound in an habituation-recovery paradigm and a retention delay of 85 sec either before or after a typical milk feed. Memory for the familiar speech-voice was enhanced relative to the unfamiliar speech-voice, expressed by significantly less head turning toward the habituated sound stimulus when it was re-presented after the delay. Memory for familiar or unfamiliar speech was not significantly enhanced from pre- to postfeeding, nor was there a significant interaction. This is the first demonstration in newborns that familiarity enhances short-term memory for speech-voice sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We investigated the effectiveness of Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a prenatal-to-age-two-years home-visiting programme, in British Columbia (BC), Canada., Methods: For this randomised controlled trial, we recruited participants from 26 public health settings who were: <25 years, nulliparous, <28 weeks gestation and experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. We randomly allocated participants (one-to-one; computer-generated) to intervention (NFP plus existing services) or comparison (existing services) groups. Prespecified outcomes were prenatal substance exposure (reported previously); child injuries (primary), language, cognition and mental health (problem behaviour) by age two years; and subsequent pregnancies by 24 months postpartum. Research interviewers were masked. We used intention-to-treat analyses. (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01672060.) RESULTS: From 2013 to 2016 we enrolled 739 participants (368 NFP, 371 comparison) who had 737 children. Counts for child injury healthcare encounters [rate per 1,000 person-years or RPY] were similar for NFP (223 [RPY 316.17]) and comparison (223 [RPY 305.43]; rate difference 10.74, 95% CI -46.96, 68.44; rate ratio 1.03, 95% CI 0.78, 1.38). Maternal-reported language scores (mean, M [SD]) were statistically significantly higher for NFP (313.46 [195.96]) than comparison (282.77 [188.15]; mean difference [MD] 31.33, 95% CI 0.96, 61.71). Maternal-reported problem-behaviour scores (M [SD]) were statistically significantly lower for NFP (52.18 [9.19]) than comparison (54.42 [9.02]; MD -2.19, 95% CI -3.62, -0.75). Subsequent pregnancy counts were similar (NFP 115 [RPY 230.69] and comparison 117 [RPY 227.29]; rate difference 3.40, 95% CI -55.54, 62.34; hazard ratio 1.01, 95% CI 0.79, 1.29). We observed no unanticipated adverse events., Conclusions: NFP did not reduce child injuries or subsequent maternal pregnancies but did improve maternal-reported child language and mental health (problem behaviour) at age two years. Follow-up of long-term outcomes is warranted given that further benefits may emerge across childhood and adolescence., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

Background: Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) involves public health nurses providing frequent home visits from early pregnancy until children reach age 2 years, focusing on first-time parents experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Our aim was to evaluate NFP's effectiveness in improving child and maternal health., Methods: We conducted an analysis of prenatal secondary outcomes in an ongoing randomized controlled trial in British Columbia; the data used in this analysis were collected from January 2014 to May 2017. Participants were pregnant girls and women aged 14-24 years who were preparing to parent for the first time and experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. They were randomly allocated 1:1 to the intervention (NFP plus existing services) or control group (existing services). Prespecified prenatal secondary outcome indicators were changes in use of nicotine cigarettes and alcohol use by 34-36-weeks' gestation. We also report on prespecified exploratory cannabis and street drug use measures. We used mixed-effect models for longitudinal and clustered data to estimate intervention effects. Analyses were by intention to treat., Results: The median gestational age at baseline for the 739 participants (368 participants in the intervention group, 371 in the comparison group) was 20 weeks, 6 days. By 34-36 weeks' gestation, NFP significantly reduced cigarette counts (over the past 2 d) (difference in changes [DIC] of count -1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] -6.4 to -1.3) in those who smoked. NFP also significantly reduced rates of prenatal cannabis use (DIC -6.4, 95% CI -17.0 to -1.7), but not rates of street drug or "any" substance use. While we observed decreased rates of cigarette and alcohol use in both groups (DIC of proportions -2.8, 95% CI -15.3 to 0.6; DIC -0.5, 95% CI -8.7 to 1.8, respectively), these changes were not statistically significant., Interpretation: We found no evidence that NFP was effective in reducing rates of prenatal cigarette and alcohol use; however, it led to reduced prenatal cannabis use, and in smokers it led to modest reductions in cigarette use. NFP may therefore hold promise for reducing some types of prenatal substance use in disadvantaged populations. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, no. NCT01672060., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (Copyright 2020, Joule Inc. or its licensors.)

Low incidence rates and economic recession have hampered interpretation of educational prevention efforts to reduce abusive head trauma (AHT). Our objective was to determine whether the British Columbia experience implementing a province-wide prevention program reduced AHT hospitalization rates. A 3-dose primary, universal education program (the Period of PURPLE Crying) was implemented through maternal and public health units and assessed by retrospective-prospective surveillance. With parents of all newborn infants born between January 2009 and December 2016 (n = 354,477), nurses discussed crying and shaking while delivering a booklet and DVD during maternity admission (dose 1). Public health nurses reinforced Talking Points by telephone and/or home visits post-discharge (dose 2) and community education was instituted annually (dose 3). During admission, program delivery occurred for 90% of mothers. Fathers were present 74.4% of the time. By 2-4 months, 70.9% of mothers and 50.5% of fathers watched the DVD and/or read the booklet. AHT admissions decreased for <12-month-olds from 10.6 (95% CI: 8.3-13.5) to 7.1 (95% CI: 4.8-10.5) or, for <24-month-olds, from 6.7 (95% CI: 5.4-8.3) to 4.4 (95% CI: 3.1-6.2) cases per 100,000 person-years. Relative risk of admission was 0.67 (95% CI: 0.42-1.07, P = 0.090) and 0.65 (95% CI: 0.43-0.99, P = 0.048) respectively. We conclude that the intervention was associated with a 35% reduction in infant AHT admissions that was significant for <24-month-olds. The results are encouraging that, despite a low initial incidence and economic recession, reductions in AHT may be achievable with a system-wide implementation of a comprehensive parental education prevention program., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine whether there was any change in visits of 0- to 5-month old infants to the medical emergency room (MER) of a metropolitan pediatric hospital after province-wide implementation of a public health prevention program that teaches new parents about the properties of early crying in normal infants., Methods: Free-text descriptions of Presenting Complaint and Final Diagnosis on electronic MER clinic visit files were used to classify infants as cases of infant crying not due to disease. Annual crying case visits as a percent of MER visits were analyzed pre- and post-introduction of the prevention program., Results: Before the program, crying case visits represented 724 of 20,394 MER visits (3.5%). The age-specific pattern of MER visits for crying peaked at 6 weeks and was similar to the previously reported age-specific pattern of amounts of crying in the community. After program implementation, crying cases were reduced by 29.5% (p < .001). The most significant reductions were for crying visits in the first to third months of life., Conclusion: The findings imply that improved parental knowledge of the characteristics of normal crying secondary to a public health program may reduce MER use for crying complaints in the early months of life.