Comparison of kangaroo care and standard care: behavioral organization, development, and temperament in healthy, low-birth-weight infants through 1 year.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether Kangaroo Care (KC) for healthy, low-birth-weight (LBW) infants can promote better behavioral and developmental outcomes.


METHODS
In this historical control study, 26 infants in the KC group (GA: 34.3+/-2.5 weeks, BW: 1833.9+/-167.6 g) and 27 infants in the comparison group who received the standard medical-nursing care (34.6+/-2.3 weeks, 1850.9+/-156.7 g) were analyzed by the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) at 40 weeks of postmenstrual age, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Carey's Infant Temperament Questionnaire (ITQ) at 6 and 12 months corrected ages.


RESULTS
KC infants had significantly higher NBAS scores in Orientation, State Regulation, and Supplementary items; lower Intensity scores and higher Mood scores at 6 months on the ITQ; and higher Bayley Scales score at 12 months.


CONCLUSIONS
KC effectively promoted neonatal behavioral organization and enhanced developmental outcome over the first year of life for LBW infants.
Ohgi
Shohei
S
Department of Preventive Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan.
Fukuda
Masafumi
M
Moriuchi
Hiroyuki
H
Kusumoto
Takashi
T
Akiyama
Tomitaro
T
Nugent
J Kevin
JK
Brazelton
T Berry
TB
Arisawa
Kokichi
K
Takahashi
Tatsuya
T
Saitoh
Hiroshi
H
D001724:Birth Weight; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D013694:Temperament; D014110:Touch