School pupils greet Kate ahead of visit to children’s clinic
The Princess of Wales has arrived at a children’s clinic to meet health visitors taking part in a field study that aims improve the assessment of babies.
Before beginning her visit, the princess went on a walkabout to meet young children from local schools in Nuneaton, Warwickshire who were gathered outside the venue.
Later Kate will chat to health visitors about the research being funded by a £50,000 grant from her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
The study will trial and evaluate the use of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) in the UK, and is being run in partnership with the Institute of Health Visiting and the University of Oxford.
The scale is used to assess how babies interact with their environment, focusing on eye contact, facial expressions, vocalisation and activity levels to help health professionals and families better understand the ways babies express their feelings, and support parents with bonding.
The princess saw first-hand how the ADBB model is being used by health visitors to support parent-infant relationships and early childhood development during her visit to Denmark in February 2022.
Following the trip, Kate and her centre have been working closely with the Institute of Health Visiting to explore the potential for implementing ADBB in the UK.
It can also be used to recognise early signs of psychological distress, enabling specialist support to be accessed as soon as it is needed.
During her visit to the Children and Family Centre at Riversley Park in Nuneaton, the princess will also visit a drop-in clinic and hear from families about the impact of the support they are receiving from their health visitors.
The ADBB trial is running for a period of 10 months and is being carried out at the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, and Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.
