The Princess of Wales visited Riversley Park Children’s Centre as her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood announced on Thursday that it had funded its first field study.
Catherine met with health visitors—the researchers working on the field study—and new mothers and their infants to hear about the support they’re receiving.
On her visit to Denmark a year ago, Catherine learned about the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) from researchers and wanted to explore implementing the scale in the United Kingdom. The royal worked with a team from the Institute of Health Visiting to determine how this could be best done.
During her visit to Nuneaton, she told the health visitors, “You play such a critical role in society for families, and I’m aware of the pressure you are under.”
According to the Centre, the ADBB Scale “focuses on social behaviours such as eye contact, facial expressions, vocalisation and activity levels to help practitioners and families to better understand the ways babies express their feelings, whilst also supporting parents and carers with bonding and attachment.”
It can also recognise the early signs of psychological distress, which helps parents to find specialist support sooner.
After joining an online session about the ADBB, she said: “How much you can pick up in terms of baby cues at such a small age and help pass on to parents … and signs to look for, and this is how they communicate with you, I find that fascinating.”
Catherine’s research centre has funded the project at £50,000 to run the ADBB Scale in the United Kingdom at the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
The project is also run by the Institute of Health Visiting and the University of Oxford. It aims “to support the profession to promote infant wellbeing and social and emotional development.”
After her visit, the Princess shared on social media, “It was also great to hear how @Earlychildhood trials of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale are going, reminding us how important innovation is in #ShapingUs.”
