Testing the effectiveness of NBAS intervention with a substance-using population

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS; Brazelton, 1984) and the Mother's Assessment of the Behavior of her Infant (MABI; Field et al., 1978) as interventions to enhance mother-infant interaction with low-income, drug-using mothers. It also investigated the ability of mothers' receptivity to predict intervention effectiveness. During the post-partum hospital stay, 54 mother-infant pairs were randomly assigned to one of four levels of intervention: NBAS teaching session along with MABI questionnaires (n = 14), NBAS teaching session only (n = 13), MABI questionnaires only (n = 15), or no intervention (n = 12). Four weeks later, subjects were visited at home and observed by a blind observer during a feeding session. Maternal receptivity was rated both in the hospital and during the home visit. Results showed no differences in mother-infant interaction among intervention groups, and that maternal receptivity was unable to meaningfully predict intervention effectiveness.