CARE OF MOTHER, CHILD AND MIDTERMS

ADOLESCENT 10
22

BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT

BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT
While babies may not speak their first word for a
year, they are born ready to communicate with a rich
vocabulary of body movements, cries and visual
responses.
THE NEONATAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT SCALE
(NBAS) was developed in 1973 by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and
his colleagues. The scale represents a guide that helps
parents, health care providers and researchers understand
the newborn's language.
Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
 developed in 1973 by Dr. Thomas Berry Brazelton and
his colleagues
 assesses the newborn’s response to 28 behavioral and
18 reflex items organized according to clusters
 can also be used to assess initial parent-newborn
relationships and as a guide for parents to help them
focus on their neonate's individuality and to develop a
deeper attachment to their child
BRAZELTON NEONATAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT SCALE

 Used to evaluate the effects of low birth weight on

" The scale is designed to reveal an infant’s strengths and
premature newborns
preferences, so that parents may have a better
 Used it to study the effects of cocaine use in pregnancy
understanding of their newborn’s
 Prenatal alcohol exposure
capabilities.”
 Prenatal Iron deficiency
 Prenatal maternal mood
It is based on 3 assumptions:
 Prenatal maternal dopamine levels
1. Newborn baby control their movements.
2. They communicate in different means.  Environmental agents
3. They are social organisms.  Parent-newborn attachment
 Gender differences in newborns
The scale contains 28 behavioral and 18 reflex items for  High-risk neonates
parents and doctors to assess. It also reviews a baby’s
capabilities in several different developmental areas:
autonomic, motor, state regulation, and social-interactive
systems. The result is not a score, but instead an
understanding of how infants integrate these areas as they
adapt to their new environment. It includes habituation,
orientation, motor maturity, variation, self
quieting ability & social behavior.

BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS

RESPIRATORY EVALUATION

Silverman-Andersen Index
 originally devised in 1956 by American physicians
William Aaron Silverman and Dorothy Hansine
Andersen
 used to estimate degrees of respiratory distress in
newborns

SILVERMAN – ANDERSEN INDEX

Criteria:
 Chest movement
 Intercostal retraction
 Xiphoid retraction
 Nares dilatation
 Expiratory grunt

SILVERMAN – ANDERSENINDEX

SCORE:
 0-3: mild respiratory distress
 4-6: moderate distress
 >6: impending respiratory failure
 10: severe distress