Caregiver-Child Interaction in Children Placed into Different Types of Russian Families following an Institutional Intervention

Abstract

The current study examined whether interventions in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, institutions for infants (Baby Homes) that increased caregiver sensitivity (Training Only) or both caregiver sensitivity and consistency (Training plus Structural Changes: T + SC) versus care as usual (No Intervention: NoI), and the type of post-institutional (PI) families (Relatives versus Non-Relatives) in relation to the length of institutionalization would be associated with caregiver-child interaction advantages in the families. The Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment (Clark, 1985) method was used to assess the caregiver-child interactions at the stages of ≤24 months (n = 55), and 25-48 months of family placement (n = 48). Results suggest that at the stage of 24 months several interactional characteristics were better in families with children from T + SC than from NoI, especially the longer time children spent in these BH, and in families of Non-Relatives than Relatives. At 25-48 months, children in Non-Relative families displayed more Activity and Quality of Exploratory Play than in Relative families. Overall, these results suggest that at ≤24 months in PI families, advantages in caregiver-child interaction might be associated with better institutional caregiving and the type of families, whereas at 25-48 months it might be related only to the type of families.