A call to action: more parent-child interaction research within daily routines!

Parent-child interaction (PCI) is known to be a suportive predictor of child developmental outcomes. PCI is a 2-way, connected exchange where, particularly in infancy, the child is the agent of the interaction, initiating with eye gaze, action, emotion, and/or language, and the parent adapts their communication and interactional style in order to attune to and respond to their child. The research objectives of this study were informed by a group of hearing parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Whereas much of the literature examining PCI involves observations of parents/caregivers interacting with their children during play or book reading, these parents noted that PCI happens throughout the day; therefore, guidance and support to promote PCI during daily routines (i.e., repeated routines in care, hygiene, and nutrition) would also be useful. A systematic review aimed to identify and synthesize all academic papers assessing PCI with DHH children aged 0-3 within daily routine activities at home (i.e., activities outside of play or book reading). Severely limited results led to a 4-point Call to Action for researchers in the field: (1) examine PCI in daily routines; (2) capture PCI using video; (3) recruit diverse participant groups; and (4) report explicitly.