EFFECT OF IMPROVING CAREGIVING ON EARLY MENTAL HEALTH

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

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Abstract

The intent of this project is to experimentally improve the stability and consistency of caregiving staff and to train them to be more socially responsive and developmentally appropriate in a St. Petersburg, Russia, baby home for children birth to 4 years, and to observe the consequences of such improved caregiving on early mental health, including the physical development, mental/developmental and social-emotional growth of the children who are adopted into the U.S.A. The development of children within the intervention baby home will be compared with baseline information, a baby home receiving training but no staffing changes, and a baby home receiving no intervention. Longer-term progress of children adopted into the USA will be compared with non-treated children from the same homes, adopted children from other St. Petersburg baby homes, home-reared American children, and perhaps unselected foreign adopted children in Minnesota.