The Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB), funded by The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, was trialled by health visitors across Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust in 2023 with ‘overwhelmingly positive results’.
Phase two of the trial will be extended to a further eight NHS foundation trusts across the UK, including health boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The tool, widely used internationally to promote infant wellbeing and social development, provides insight into babies’ communication, attachments and social emotional development.
If early signs of a potential difficulty in the parent-infant relationship are identified, health visitors can work with families to explore the underlying reasons and introduce timely, targeted support.
Health visitors in the Phase One trial used a modified version of the tool (m-ADBB) at routine six-to-eight-week development checks. They reported that the tool required minimal additional time and could be embedded into routine activities with families.
Christian Guy, executive director of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which provided a £210,000 grant for the second phase, said, ‘We know that warm, loving, responsive interactions with those closest to them during the earliest weeks and months of a baby’s life are crucial in promoting positive brain development.
‘Health visitors do such a vital job in our communities. I am delighted that we are now able to give more teams across the UK the support they need to help thousands of families to better understand their babies and build nurturing relationships, laying the strongest possible foundations for all that is to come in the years that follow.’
Alison Morton, chief executive of the Institute of Health Visiting said, ‘As we know, babies can’t talk, but there is significant evidence that their early experiences influence their future outcomes. The expansion of the use of the modified ADBB tool in a wider range of health visiting services will allow us to consider its future implementation and sustainability, and ensure more families get the right support and babies can thrive.’
