The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale

by T. Berry Brazelton, J. Kevin Nugent

Overview

The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) is the most comprehensive examination of newborn behaviour available today and has been used in clinical and research settings around the world for more than 35 years. The scale assesses the newborn's behavioral repertoire with 28 behavioral items and also includes an assessment of the infant's neurological status on 20 items. The NBAS items cover: autonomic regulation; motor organization; state organization and regulation and attention/social interaction. The book describes in detail the procedures involved in administering and scoring the NBAS as well as including chapters setting the assessment in the context of psychological influences around birth, the relationship between the examiner, infant and parents, and what we know about newborn motor behaviour. Since the time it was first published, the NBAS has been used in hundreds of studies to examine the effects of a wide range of pre- and perinatal variables. This new edition contains an updated review of research using the NBAS. Because the NBAS is being used increasingly as a way of promoting a positive relationship between parent and child, the new edition also includes new guidelines for clinicians. New guidelines and numerous refinements in the administration and scoring have now been added, as well as a section describing advances in our understanding of motor behaviour. Finally, new chapters present the uses of the NBAS in a range of contexts around the world, highlighting the wide range of research and clinical applications of the NBAS.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781907655197
Publisher:	MacKeith Press
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Series:	190
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

T. Berry Brazelton, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus at Harvard Medical School, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on pediatrics and child development. He has authored over 200 scholarly papers and he has also written forty books on pediatrics, child development and parenting.
"Director, the Brazelton Institute, Division of Behavioral Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital, Boston; Professor, Children, Families and Schools, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Lecturer, Harvard Medical School. "

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

PREFACE xiii

T. Berry Brazelton

1. THE NEONATAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT SCALE (NBAS) –

BACKGROUND AND CONCEPTUAL BASIS 1

2. THE STANDARD ADMINISTRATION OF THE NBAS 10

3. SCORING THE NBAS ITEMS 48

4. USING THE NBAS IN RESEARCH 79

Maggie Redshaw

5. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF THE NBAS 94

Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern

6. NEW ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF MOTOR BEHAVIOR IN

PRETERM AND TERM INFANTS 102

Fabrizio Ferrari and Natascia Bertoncelli

7. THE INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXAMINER, INFANT AND

PARENTS IN THE USE OF THE NBAS 109

Claire De Vriendt-Goldman and Marie-Paule Durieux

8. THE NBAS IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS: TRAINING, RESEARCH

AND CLINICAL ISSUES 115

Joshua Sparrow

8.1 NBAS training – lessons from the UK 120

Joanna Hawthorne and Betty Hutchon

8.2 Neurodevelopmental assessment in young infants:

a proposal for daily clinical activity and early

intervention, integrating the concepts of

Milani Comparetti, Brazelton and Prechtl 133

Gherardo Rapisardi and Adrienne Davidson

8.3 The NBAS and postpartum depression: a case study 141

M. Barbosa, J. Gomes-Pedro, J. Justo, L. Leitão,

P. Menezes, J. Rombert, R. Silveira-Machado and

F. Sobral

8.4 Clinical applications of the NBAS with at-risk infants

within a research setting: case vignettes 143

Carme Costas-Moragas, Elisabet Boatella-Costa,

Mª Andrea Mancera-Jiménez and Francesc Botet-Mussons

8.5 The NBAS and an infant with a disability: a case study 148

Marie Fabre-Grenet

8.6 Using the NBAS in the context of breastfeeding issues: a case study 151

M. Barbosa, J. Gomes-Pedro, J. Justo, L. Leitão,

P. Menezes, J. Rombert, R. Silveira-Machado and

F. Sobral

8.7 The NBAS in pediatric care 154

Constance Helen Keefer

APPENDIX: NBAS SCORING FORM 164

REFERENCES 167

INDEX 177

Table of Contents

Contributors vii

Foreword ix
Martin Bax

1. Introduction 1
T. Berry Brazelton

2. Standard administration of the NBAS 7

3. Manual for scoring the NBAS Items 41

4. Research Uses for the NBAS 67

5. Clinical Uses of the NBAS 84

I. Introduction 84

II. The Combined Physical and Behavioral Neonatal Examination: A Parent-Centered Approach to Pediatric Care 92
Constance Helen Keefer

III. A Model for Intergrating the NBAS into Nursing Practice 102
Donna J. Karl, Judy A. Beal and Patricia N. Rissmiller

IV. Using the NBAS with Families: A Psychotherapeutic Approach 108
Hanne Munck

V. Family Administered Neonatal Activities (FANA) 111
Ida Anne Cardone and Linda Gilkerson

VI. Parents' Perceptions as Guides for Conducting NBAS Clinical Sessions 117
Dieter Wolke

VII. Using the NBAS with High-Risk Infants 126
Jean Gardner Cole

Appendices 123

1. NBAS Scoring Form 133

2. Mother and Baby Scales (MBAS) 135

References 138

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Jay P. Goldsmith, MD (Tulane University School of Medicine)
Description: This book is the source of the most comprehensive evaluation of newborn behavior and interaction between parents and their newborn infant. This edition is not significantly different from previous editions published over the last 35 years (third edition was published in 1995), except for some minor changes in the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), a few added case histories, the use of the scale in various settings, and a review of research using the scale.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide an instructional guide on the administration and scoring of the NBAS. Despite the fact that it takes significant training and at least 20 minutes to perform, it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive evaluation of newborn behavior. This is a worthy goal since this type of evaluation is necessary in many settings — to evaluate the effects of treatments or drugs, to help parents with babies who have difficulties in the neonatal period, and a host of other practical and research uses.
Audience: The book is intended for caretakers of the newborn infant, from physicians to nurses and child psychologists. It may be especially important to researchers studying the effects of various influences on the newly born such as drugs, environment, pregnancy complications, etc. The authors are the world's authorities on this scale since they developed it over 35 years ago.
Features: The major focus of the book is a review of the administration and scoring of the NBAS with excellent pictures illustrating many of the procedures. This is followed by chapters dedicated to the use of the scale in research and various settings with several case histories of newborns with abnormal behavior and interventions. These were mainly anecdotal, and the book presents no evidence that the use of the scale to detect behavioral abnormalities with subsequent intervention statistically improved childhood outcomes. Such a study would make the instrument more important for pediatricians and others to use.
Assessment: This is the single original source for this comprehensive newborn behavioral scale. Other books may refer to the NBAS and even give an abbreviated version of its administration and scoring, but clinicians and researchers wishing to use the NBAS should learn how to do it from the people who created it.

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