Many children in low- and middle-income countries lack the stimulation needed to support healthy growth and development. Sensitive interactions between caregivers and infants may promote healthy movement behaviours in infants, which could improve childhood growth and development. However, reliable measures for such interactions require testing in the South African context. The aim of this study was to test the acceptability and feasibility of the headcam caregiver-infant interaction assessment tool in mothers from Soweto, South Africa. Nineteen mother and infant (6–24 months) pairs were asked to wear headcams (first-person observation) while participating in group and individual activities. Detailed instructions on headcam use were provided before and during these activities. Mothers were then asked to use the headcams, as well as photoframe cameras (which provided context of the interactions), in at least three, 5-min mother-infant engagement sessions at home over a 1-week period. Thereafter, focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to explore mothers’ experiences of using the tool in the home setting. The feasibility of the headcam mother-infant interaction tool was assessed according to a priori criteria which scored (i) technical reliability of the devices and (ii) usability of the recorded footage. Acceptability was assessed according to emerging themes which were coded from the FGDs using a constant comparison method by two researchers. The headcam mother-infant assessment tool was found to be feasible in Soweto, and sufficient data was available to code. Three main themes emerged from the FGD analysis: use of the headcam, using the headcams in the home environment and using the photoframe vs. the headcam. Mothers remarked on the ease of using the tool across daily activities, the normality of their infant’s behaviour during recording and the acceptability by other members of the household. Large amounts of wasted unusable recordings were produced, and challenges related to switching the cameras on and off and to headcam placement were discussed. Our study shows that headcams are both an acceptable and feasible method for assessing mother-infant interactions in Soweto. However, improvements to the usability of the tool and the quality of the data collected should be made prior to future work.

中文翻译：

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头戴式摄像头母婴互动评估工具：利用参与式参与测试在南非索韦托的可行性和可接受性


低收入和中等收入国家的许多儿童缺乏支持健康成长和发展所需的刺激。护理人员和婴儿之间的敏感互动可能会促进婴儿健康的运动行为，从而改善儿童的生长和发育。然而，这种相互作用的可靠措施需要在南非进行测试。本研究的目的是测试头戴式摄像头护理人员与婴儿互动评估工具对南非索韦托母亲的可接受性和可行性。十九对母婴（6-24 个月）被要求在参加团体和个人活动时佩戴头戴摄像头（第一人称观察）。在这些活动之前和期间提供了有关头部摄像头使用的详细说明。然后，母亲们被要求在为期 1 周的时间内在家中使用头戴式摄像头以及相框相机（提供互动背景）进行至少 3 次每次 5 分钟的母婴互动活动。此后，进行了焦点小组讨论（FGD），以探索母亲在家庭环境中使用该工具的经验。根据先验标准评估了头戴式摄像头母婴互动工具的可行性，该标准对（i）设备的技术可靠性和（ii）录制片段的可用性进行评分。可接受性是根据两位研究人员使用持续比较方法从 FGD 编码的新兴主题进行评估的。头显母婴评估工具在索韦托被发现是可行的，并且有足够的数据可用于编码。 FGD 分析得出三个主题：头部摄像头的使用、在家庭环境中使用头部摄像头以及使用相框与头部摄像头。 母亲们评价了该工具在日常活动中的易用性、婴儿在记录过程中行为的正常性以及家庭其他成员的可接受性。产生了大量浪费且无法使用的录音，并讨论了与打开和关闭摄像机以及头戴式摄像机放置相关的挑战。我们的研究表明，头戴式摄像头是评估索韦托母婴互动的可接受且可行的方法。然而，在未来的工作之前，应改进工具的可用性和收集的数据的质量。