The Barnard Infant Scale of Assessment: A Legacy of Understanding Early Development
Dr. Kathryn E. Barnard's work has profoundly impacted the understanding and assessment of infant development and parent-child relationships. Her contributions, particularly the development of the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) and the underlying theoretical framework, have transformed how healthcare providers evaluate children, especially in light of the parent-child relationship.
Kathryn E. Barnard: A Pioneer in Infant Mental Health
Kathryn E. Barnard's career was dedicated to improving the health and well-being of infants and their families. Her work began with studying mentally and physically handicapped children and adults, then expanded to include the activities of well children. She further developed methods for evaluating the growth and development of children, mother-infant relationships, and the influence of the environment on child development.
Barnard wanted to be a nurse from the first grade and got her first nursing job at the age of 16. She worked in her home state of Nebraska before being recruited to the University of Washington in 1963.
Barnard's influence on the field of infant mental health was recognized with numerous honors and awards, including the Gustav O. Leinhard Award from the Institute of Medicine, which she shared with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton.
The Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST)
A cornerstone of Barnard's legacy is the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training Project (NCAST). NCAST provides healthcare workers worldwide with guidelines for assessing infant development and parent-child interactions. Established in 1979, NCAST continues to produce and develop research-based products, assessments, and training programs.
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The first offering of NCAST explained the Parent Child Interaction Feeding and Teaching Scales, or PCI, which were the first clinical research level parent-child interaction assessment tools. Since its inception, PCI has been employed in nearly 100 published research studies and several foreign countries.
Barnard's Theory: The Interplay of Caregiver, Environment, and Child
Barnard's theory emphasizes the dynamic interaction between the caregiver, the environment, and the child. This interaction is often visualized as a Venn diagram, where the overlapping areas represent the reciprocal influences between these three components.
The theory proposes “that the individual characteristics of each member influence the parent-infant system, and that the adaptive behavior modifies these characteristics to meet the needs of the system”.
The Three Concepts
Kathryn E. The three concepts - The intersections among the Caregiver, Environment, and Child are an interaction, similar to a Venn diagram.
Application of Barnard's Theory
Barnard’s theory has been used to guide practice, which “has transformed the way that healthcare providers evaluate children in light of the parent-child relationship”. The theory also has been used to “to study community problems that affect health disparities”.
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Research and Publications
Kathryn E. has published extensively since the mid-1960s about improving the health of infants and their families.
Innovations in Infant Care
In 1972, while working on her PhD dissertation, Kathryn became interested in designing a better incubator - one that simulated rocking and heartbeat to help infants develop more mature sleep patterns. The rocking bed she developed improved infants’ weight gain and motor and sensory functions. Today, hospital nurseries and NICUs often encourage rocking tiny infants and provide rocking chairs to do so as a direct result of Kathryn’s work. It was one of her proudest contributions to the field of child development.
Supporting Vulnerable Families
Kathryn was known for her compassion for mothers who had multiple risk factors, such as drug use, poverty, mental health problems and social isolation. She supported policies and developed programs, including home visitation, to support women facing these kinds of challenges through pregnancy and the first year of their infants’ lives.
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