The AMBIANCE-brief: An observational assessment tool of disruptive caregiving for use in applied settings with families at high social risk
Date
2019-08-27
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Abstract
Background: A community-identified need has emerged for a well-validated indicator of caregiving difficulties for use in practice settings. Thus, a brief form of the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification System (AMBIANCE) was developed for use as a screening instrument. Prior to its dissemination in practice settings, further evidence of the feasibility and validity of the AMBIANCE-Brief must be established. Objectives: The current study aims to: assess feasibility of coding disrupted caregiving in real-time; establish the convergent validity of the AMBIANCE-Brief with the full AMBIANCE, as well as its postdictive validity in relation to maternal unresolved states of mind, and its concurrent validity with infant attachment disorganization; examine if the relation between maternal unresolved states of mind and infant attachment disorganization is mediated by maternal disrupted caregiving as assessed by the AMBIANCE-Brief. Method: Adolescent mothers and their infants (N = 69 dyads) participated when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. At 6 months of age, mothers completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Dyads completed the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), as well as play sessions with toys and without toys when infants were 12 months of age. Maternal disrupted caregiving was coded from the play sessions using the full AMBIANCE and AMBIANCE-Brief. Results: The AMBIANCE-Brief demonstrated strong convergent validity with the full AMBIANCE, postdictive validity with maternal unresolved states of mind, and concurrent validity with infant attachment disorganization in both play sessions. However, maternal disrupted caregiving, as assessed by the AMBIANCE-Brief, did not significantly mediate the association between maternal unresolved states of mind and infant attachment disorganization. Conclusions: The current work represents an initial step in the development of shorter protocols which are more efficient for practitioners to use in practice settings. Future studies are needed to establish evidence of validity and feasibility of the AMBIANCE-Brief in community agencies.
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disrupted caregiving, atypical parenting, disorganized attachment, mother-infant assessment, screening
Citation
Cooke, J. E. (2019). The AMBIANCE-brief: An observational assessment tool of disruptive caregiving for use in applied settings with families at high social risk (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.