Australia |Overview
NBAS Training
Beulah Warren MA (Hons) MMH (Infant) MAPS
NBAS Trainer
Sydney, Australlia
As there is only one NBAS trainer in Australia, training may involve travelling from one state to the other to visit a site where a group of eager trainees have gathered. One site has been the Mater Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland. In the main the trainees are therapists: occupational, speech pathology and physiotherapy as well as a sprinkling of psychologists, some with Infant Mental Health training.
There have also been a couple of sites in New Zealand where trainees have attended an Orientation Day (the University of Waikato, Hamilton) and Little Hutt Hospital in Wellington where successful trainees completed the Reliability Assessment. The successful trainees in Wellington included three neurodevelopmental therapists, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist and a child & adolescent psychiatrist. These trainees had been introduced to the Scale by Ms Betty Hutchon, NBAS trainer from UK when she was in NZ doing Bobath training.
In June this year a group of six trainees are beginning their training in Perth, Western Australia. The Perth group will include two perinatal psychiatrists, a nurse with Infant Mental Health training and two infant mental health registrars.
Procedure
The form the training takes is a one-day orientation/introduction to the Scale, after which trainees return to their own sites encouraged to practice the Scale on the standard ‘at least 20 babies’. Sometimes the introduction is followed by a visit for a Refresher Day some weeks or months later. When the trainees indicate readiness, the trainer returns for the Reliability Assessment. For the Introduction Day trainees are required to have read and have their own copy of the Manual. The Trainer will assess a baby and then the group will score the assessment, which involves considerable discussion, answering questions and clarifying uncertainties. The Refresher Day takes much the same form as the Orientation Day to clarify any uncertainties the trainees may have as to procedure or scoring.
Most of the trainees are clinicians and use the Scale in their clinical work and for associated research. One of the psychologists is using the Scale in the research for her PhD.
NBAS Included in Master of Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Program
Students in the MMH (Perinatal & Infant) at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry are introduced to the NBAS in the second year of the course and in the third year attend an Orientation Day.