Feeding Assessment: Development of a Biopsychosocial Instrument

Abstract

This article proposes that behavioral and sociocultural factors are important in assessing the feeding of at-risk children. In describing an instrument to assess maternal and child behaviors during feeding the article challenges therapists who work with at-risk children in the area of oral-motor intervention to broaden their conceptual framework for practice to include psychosocial as well as biological factors in their feeding assessment and intervention Qualitative methodology consistent with this biopsychosocial perspective is described as it was used to formulate an assessment tool for measuring concurrently the interaction of caregiver and child in conjunction with the oral-motor performance of the child. The resulting Feeding Interaction Report-Scale and Treatment is described in its initial stages to facilitate understanding of the reciprocal nature of parent and child interaction in activities of daily life. The pilot use of the scale with 14 at-risk 2- to 40-month-old children and their parents is reported. Results indicate that although this line of assessment is in its formative stages, it may elucidate an important direction in clinical understanding of the way parents and children interact and develop.