Assessment of Reliability And Validity of the Behavioral Observation Record For Developmental Care

Abstract

Due to time constraints, clinicians are rarely able to carry out neurobehavioral assessments that use the Naturalistic Observation of Newborn Behavior Instrument. The content validity, interrater reliability, and criterion-related validity for a less time-consuming instrument, the Modified Infant Behavioral Observation Record (MIBOR) for developmental care was evaluated in this study. Eight developmental care specialists evaluated the MIBOR for content validity. Fifteen infants (birth weight < 1,500 g) were observed to determine interrater reliability, and three were observed to evaluate criterion-related validity. The content validity of the MIBOR, as determined by average congruence, was 96.9%. Interrater reliability for each developmental care subsystem ranged from 67% to 98%. Three of the four subsystems on the MIBOR achieved criterion-related validity, achieving an agreement of r = .60.

Mothers' mood and perceptions regarding their preterm infants' behavioral state following a feeding intervention

“…The literature suggests that mothers expect feeding time to be a time when they can communicate with their infants verbally and nonverbally. Mothers who are presented with an unresponsive or irritable infant may feel frustrated and perhaps inadequate as a mother (Cheng and Chapman, 1997;Klaus et al, 1993;Ziv and Cassidy, 2002).…”