Protecting the child while preserving the relationship: Using baby’s relational withdrawal to gauge the effect of parental visitation

<div><p>The impact of children’s interactions with parents in the context of out-of-home placements is receiving much-needed cross-disciplinary attention. However, the paucity of instruments that can reliably represent young children’s experiences of such interactions precludes a nuanced evaluation of their impact on wellbeing and development. In response to this empirical gap, the present study investigates children’s relational withdrawal as a clinically salient, easily observable and conceptually valid measure of infants’ and toddlers’ responses to parents. Relational withdrawal, challenging behaviors and salivary cortisol were assessed before, during and after parental visits. Conceptually, the findings suggest that observations of relational withdrawal correlate meaningfully with measure of neurobiological reactivity. Clinically, three profiles of cross-variable responses in children appeared, distinguishing between groups that experience increased, decreased or unchanged levels of stress in response to parental visits. Taken together, the findings lend empirical support to systematic observations of relational withdrawal to bolster evaluations of young children’s experience of parental visitation during out-of-home placements.</p></div

Estimated marginal means of salivary cortisol by group of relational withdrawal.

<p>Estimated marginal means of salivary cortisol by group of relational withdrawal.</p

Estimated marginal means of salivary cortisol as a function of reaction profile (interaction).

<p>Estimated marginal means of salivary cortisol as a function of reaction profile (interaction).</p

Estimated marginal means (logarithmic) for reaction profiles and repeated measures ADBB scores including age and duration of placement as covariates.

<p>Estimated marginal means (logarithmic) for reaction profiles and repeated measures ADBB scores including age and duration of placement as covariates.</p

Data collection scheme.

<p>Data collection scheme.</p

Additional file 1: Figure S1. of Effects of silver nanoparticles and ions on a co-culture model for the gastrointestinal epithelium

Mucus layer characterization (Alcian blue staining). Figure S2. Mucus layer characterization (Toluidine blue staining and TEM). Figure S3. Mucus layer characterization (Toluidine blue staining, top view). Figure S4. Cell monolayer integrity evaluation (TEER). Figure S5. Cell-free DCFH-DA assay. Figure S6. TEM images of cells in co-culture exposed to Ag particles. Figure S7. Hierarchical clustering. Table S1. Detailed information on protein identification. Table S2. Cellular Ag content determination. Table S3. KEGG enrichment analysis. (DOCX 1.17 mb