Rationale of the intervention
depression, anxiety
Effects of infant massage have been studied before, on a wide range of outcomes. In premature infants, infant massage has been associated with shorter hospital stays, better infant growth and health, as well as reduced parent anxiety, depression and stress [Infant massage is also supposed to promote positive parent–child interaction, because the parent learns to recognize signals better, reacts sensitively and makes eye contact e.g. [Despite these promising results, the evidence base is still limited. In some studies there is a high risk of bias [Research on infant massage programs to promote the parent–child relationship also showed that effects can depend on content as well as the target population [Several of the elements that have been identified as important for effectiveness in infant massage interventions to improve the parent-infant interaction [Individual Shantala Infant Massage is offered to parents with moderate problems, who experience stress in child-raising, caring for the baby or parenting, or have an increased risk of these forms of stress or problems interacting with the baby. The embedding in PCH services facilitates initial contact with the target group. As 95% of parents of young children are in regular contact with PCH [The feasibility and promise of the intervention is supported by process evaluations of a PCH organization that provides this intervention as preventive support (Meijer, D: Procesevaluatie Shantala Babymassage Individueel, CJG Rijnmond, unpublished), (Van Delft I. & Zunderman H: Procesevaluatie Shantala Babymassage Individueel, CJG Rijnmond, unpublished). PCH professionals consider infant massage a feasible intervention that is highly appreciated as a tool for helping vulnerable families and their infants. Participating parents indicated that they learned the infant massage techniques but that they also learned to better recognize the signals of their infant, felt more supported in dealing with their infant, that the contact with their infant had improved and that their infant cried less.Taken together, the intervention Individual Shantala Infant Massage could be a promising answer to the demand for easily accessible interventions to support vulnerable families during infancy.