A tool to observe the phenomenology and aesthetics of primary relationships: the “dance steps” of reciprocity between caregivers and infant/child – Pilot validity study
This study addresses the complexity of caregiver-infant/child interactions
from the theoretical frame of Gestalt psychotherapy and the field of
application of Pediatric Psychology. Based on a previous empirical study on
the process of reciprocity in caregiver-infant/child interactions (Spagnuolo
Lobb, 2016), the authors have worked on the construction of an observational
tool to look at the co-creation of meaningful experiences, switching the
focus from the child to the “dance” of reciprocity between caregiver and infant/child. Considering the contextualization in
the field of Pediatric Psychology, this pilot study
aimed to test the tool’s application with caregiverpreterm infant dyads, but exclusively referring to
moderately preterm birth condition and with lack
of disability or in any case serious evolutionary
compromises.
The study measured: 1. the content/construct
validity of the tool, 2. its internal reliability, 3. its
“sensitivity” to grasp the changing of the relational
“dance” in the transition from one developmental
step of the infant to another, regarding the
times considered (between 6-9-12 months of
corrected age), 4. co-occurrences between the
behavioral flows of the infant-caregiver dyad in
the 3 developmental stages considered. 32 expert
psychotherapists were involved in measuring the
instrument’s validity, and 13 caregiver-infant
dyads were observed in their interactions at 6-9-12
months of corrected age of the infant. This pilot
study promises to define – both for preventative and
psychotherapeutic interventions – specific parental
competencies for the infant’s neurodevelopment in
the first year of lif