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PAM: IN THIS PAPER WE DESCRIBE THE WORK of a seminar devoted to the study of the experience of babies, their parents, and the nurses who care for them in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The paper is a joint effort, as is the work of the seminar—a collaboration between nurses from the NICU and the faculty of the Under Fives Study Center. Diane Boyer and I will describe an area of investigation that has emerged through our adaptation of the Tavistock model of infant observation.
The infant observation seminar has been the core learning experience at the Under Fives Study Center since its inception in 1994. In Keeping with the training tradition brought from the Tavistock Clinic to the University of Virginia, the method of infant observation involves the observer in a weekly visit to a baby at home for up to 2 years. The hallmarks of this method—that is, nonintrusive, friendly interest; a focus on the detail and sequence of interaction; and a reflective state of mind are used as organizing principles in the training of child psychiatrists and other professionals who work with children.
In the spring of 1997, Diane Boyer and Valerie Goodman, both nurses from the NICU, visited one of our seminars. We invited them to