Measurement of mother-infant interactions and the home environment in a European setting : preliminary results from a cross-cultural study

Background: Infant development is
adversely affected in the context of
postnatal depression.This relationship
may be mediated by both the nature of
early mother-infant interactions and the
quality of the home environment.
Aim: To establish the usefulness of the
Global Ratings Scales of Mother-Infant
Interaction and the Infant-Toddler
version of the Home Observation for the
Measurement of the Environment (IT-HOME), and to test expected associations
of the measures with characteristics of the
social context and with majororminor
depression.
Method: Both assessments were
administered postnatally in four European
centres; 144 mothers were assessed with
the Global Ratings Scales and 114 with the
IT-HOME. Affective disorder was
assessed by means of the Structured
Clinical Interview for DSM IV Disorders.
Results: Analyses of mother-infant
interaction indicated no main effect for
depression but maternal sensitivity to
infant behaviour was associated with
better infant communication, especially for
women who were not depressed. Poor
overall emotional support also reduced
sensitivity scores. Poor support was also
related to poorer IT-HOME scores, but
there was no effect of depression.
Conclusions: The Global Ratings
Scales were effectively applied but there
was less evidence of the usefulness of
the IT-HOME.