Beschreibung
Introduction. Affective touch is widely recognized as crucial for the healthy development of young infants, with an essential subclass of unmyelinated low-threshold mechano-sensitive skin fibres (i.e., C-Tactile afferents) that conduct affective information about interpersonal touch, occupying a far-reaching role. Maternal gentle stroking touch, which targets CT-afferents, has been demonstrated to enhance short-term (i.e., phasic) infant parasympathetic regulation. This is evident through significantly higher levels of infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in response to maternal gentle stroking touch compared to static touch. However, it has not yet been examined whether providing gentle stroking touch in a structured manner may stimulate changes in the reactivity of the parasympathetic regulatory system in the long term. We therefore aimed at investigating the long-term (i.e., tonic) impact of a Gentle Touch Stimulation (GTS) program on mother-infant physiological stress resilience in terms of parasympathetic regulation (i.e., RSA, heartrate, respiration and cortisol).Hypotheses. We hypothesised that a 4-week daily GTS intervention might evoke tonic changes in the reactivity of infant parasympathetic regulation through a developing association between GTS and parasympathetic regulation.
Study Population. Forty-three healthy mother-infant dyads (infant age 3-12 weeks) enrolled for the program and were randomly assigned to a GTS group or control (CTRL) group.
Methods. Mothers in the GTS group were instructed to provide daily 10-minutes GTS to their infants with CT-afferent optimal stroking touch over the course of 4 weeks. Mothers in the CTRL group provided no additional care. We conducted an at-home experiment at the start (T1) and end (T2) of this 4-week daily GTS/CTRL program to assess mother-infant physiological stress regulation, by comparing the physiological responses during a no-touch-baseline (BL), static-touch-baseline (BL-T), intervention/control (GTS/CTRL), Still Face (SF) and Reunion (RU) condition in the GTS versus CTRL group. We measured mother-infant ECG, respiration, cortisol, video recordings, and diary reports.
Results. At T1, physiological arousal significantly increased during SF in both groups, that is, decreased RSA and R-R interval (RRI). At T2, GTS-infants showed significantly increased parasympathetic regulation during GTS in terms of increased RSA and RRI, and decreased respiration frequencies. Moreover, during SF they showed a clear buffer against SF-arousal, and a physiological recovery during RU. CTRL-infants showed higher arousal during SF and only a small recovery during the RU – which remained under their initial BL-levels. Maternal cardio-respiration showed a metabolic investment during RU. Cortisol and behavioural analyses showed higher arousal in CTRL-infants than GTS-infants at T2.
These findings highlight the essential contribution of CT-optimal stroking touch in building infant stress regulation and resilience, through phasic and tonic response processes.
| Zeitraum | 15 Juli 2024 |
|---|---|
| Ereignistitel | International Attachment Conference 2024 (IAC) |
| Veranstaltungstyp | Konferenz |
| Ort | Rouen, FrankreichAuf Karte anzeigen |
| Bekanntheitsgrad | International |