EMPIRICAL STUDIES Feasibility and acceptability of an early home visit intervention aimed at supporting a positive mother–infant relationship for mothers at risk of postpartum depression Rakel Aasheim Greve MCW (Assistant Professor) 1 , Hanne Cecilie Braarud Dr. Psychol. (Academic director) 1 , Siv Skotheim PhD (Senior Adviser) 1 and Kari Slinning Dr.Psychol. (Department Director) 2,3 1 Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare Western Norway, Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway, 2 Regional Centre for Child and Adolescents Mental Health East and South, Oslo, Norway and 3 Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Scand J Caring Sci; 2018 Feasibility and acceptability of an early home visit intervention aimed at supporting a positive mother– infant relationship for mothers at risk of postpartum depression Aims: Perinatal depression is associated with difficulties in the early mother–child interaction and negative child outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibil- ity and acceptability of the Newborn Behavioral Observa- tion (NBO) System included in a home visiting programme at well-baby clinics in Norway and to exam- ine compliance with the study protocol for a future clini- cal trial. The target group was pregnant women at risk for postpartum depression and their partners. Method: An open-label study was conducted. A total of 15 pregnant women and 10 partners were recruited dur- ing 24–28 weeks of gestation. The NBO was conducted in three home visits during the first four weeks after birth. Data were collected from surveys responded to by parents and healthcare workers at six time-points and from video recordings of mother–infant interaction by the Emotional Availability (EA) Scale. The parents’ experience of the intervention and data collection was investigated by qualitative analyses of five interviews. The NBO is an individualised, relationship-based method aimed to strengthen the emotional bond between the parents and their infants and enhance the parents’ alliance with the healthcare worker. Results: Intervention completion was 97%. Data collec- tion completion was 100% at baseline and the second time-point and dropped to 50% for the mothers and 40% for the fathers at the sixth time-point. However, 79% (11 of 14) of the mothers and infants took part in video recordings for the EA coding at 4 months postpar- tum (sixth time-point). The usefulness questionnaires showed high acceptability among both parents and healthcare workers. Conclusion: This study showed that the NBO conducted in home visits is a feasible and acceptable intervention for both parents and healthcare workers within the well- baby clinic services. A future clinical trial protocol needs adjustments related to data collection. Keywords: feasibility, acceptability, Newborn Behavioral Observation, early intervention, infant–mother interac- tion, postpartum depression, emotional availability. Submitted 5 October 2017, Accepted 13 May 2018 Introduction It is acknowledged that the caregiver’s ability to interpret and respond to the infant’s cues in an attuned way is associated with positive infant development in several areas (1, 2), such as affect regulation (3) and attachment (4). Mothers with elevated symptoms of depression often have difficulties responding appropriately to their infants (5), which affect the quality of the early mother–infant interaction (6, 7), and may lead to adverse child out- comes including insecure attachment, difficulties in beha- vioural and emotional adjustment, and poor cognitive Correspondence to: Rakel Aasheim Greve, Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare Western Norway, Uni Research Health, PB 7810, 5020 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: ragr@hvl.no Present address: Rakel Aasheim Greve, Western University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway Hanne Cecilie Braarud, Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufetat), Region West, 3103 Tonsberg, Norway Siv Skotheim, Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufetat), Region South, 3103 Tonsberg, Norway 1 © 2018 Nordic College of Caring Science doi: 10.1111/scs.12589