Donate Join Contact
Disclaimer
Search
Generic filters
Donate Join Contact

The Assessment of Preterm Infants’ Behavior
A comprehensive, systematic assessment of preterm and fullterm newborns

What does
the APIB
describe?

  • The stability and organization of infant behaviors and their interactions with one another and the demands of the assessment
    Within and across these subsystems:

    • Autonomic (such as breathing and color)
    • Motor (including movements and posture)
    • State (from sleep to wakefulness to upset)
    • Attention (availability and quality of social interaction)
    • Self-regulation (strategy to maintain a well balanced state)
  • Degree of examiner facilitation necessary to support the infant’s behavioral regulation

Who uses
the APIB
as an
assessment
tool?

  • Newborn intensive care, healthy newborn nursery, and follow-up clinic staff professionals
  • Clinicians and developmental professionals and consultants (psychologists, neonatologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, developmental pediatricians, nurse clinicians and physical, occupational, and speech/language therapists, and infant or developmental specialists)
  • Research Investigators

How is the
APIB used?

  • Source for NIDCAP recommendations
  • Resource for developmental care planning
  • Instrument for neurodevelopmental diagnosis
  • Tool for research investigations

Who developed
the APIB?

  • Heidelise Als, PhD and her colleagues
    • Als H, Lester, BM, Tronick E, & Brazelton TB. (1982). Towards a systematic assessment of preterm infants’ behavioral development. In Fitzgerald HE, Lester BM, and Yogman MW (Eds.), Theory and Research in Behavioral Pediatrics (pp. 35-63). New York: Plenum Press.
    • Als H, Lester BM, Tronick E, & Brazelton TB. (1982). Manual for the assessment of preterm infants’ behavior (APIB). In Fitzgerald HE, Lester BM, and Yogman MW (Eds., Theory and Research in Behavioral Pediatrics (pp. 65-132). New York: Plenum Press.
  • Based on and a refinement of the Brazelton Newborn Behavioral Assessment Scale
    • Brazelton T. Berry (1973). Brazelton Newborn Behavioral Assessment Scale. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott Co.

Becoming
an APIB
Professional

  • Training is currently available from 5 APIB Training Centers
  • Please contact the APIB Training Center nearest to you to discuss our training program
    • National NIDCAP Training Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
    • West Coast NIDCAP & APIB Training Center at UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA
    • Centro Latinoamericano NIDCAP & APIB, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Australasian NIDCAP Training Centre, Westmead, Australia
    • Sophia NIDCAP and APIB Training Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Training Centers

For details on APIB training and certification please see:

APIB Professional Policy Program Guide APIB FAQs