Videophone use improves maternal interest in transported infants.

A telephone video transmission unit was utilized to assist in the attachment of mothers to their transported sick infants. To evaluate its effectiveness, the number of telephone calls to the ICN made by the mothers using the unit was used as a variable to "quantify" interest in their newborns; this was compared with the number of calls made by a matched group of mothers who did not utilize the videophone. There was a significantly larger number of calls made by the study mothers both while hospitalized and after discharge when they no longer had use of the videophone. Use of the unit appeared to alleviate some maternal anxieties and encouraged early endearment by the study mothers. How this affects the long-term relationship between infant and mother will require further follow-up investigation.