Developing the Japanese “HUG (Help-Understanding-Guidance) Your Baby” program

Abstract

HUG (Help-Understanding-Guidance) Your Baby is an international program, developed by Jan Tedder, a family nurse practitioner from North Carolina, USA. This award-winning program presents the newborn's body languages to new parents and shows them the skills for taking care of their newborn thus allowing them to enjoy the child-raising period. This paper introduces the Japanese version of the “HUG” program. Collaborating with Tedder, the researcher who developed the original “HUG” program, we translated the English program to Japanese then back translated to English thereby confirming the content validity. The materials we translated were: slides used in the program, a leaflet explaining the two “HUG” skills, a leaflet for helping effective breastfeeding, and a DVD that explains the newborn's behavior and the skills we introduce in the program. The “HUG” program consists of the following items: introduction of the two skills to help child-rearing, (understanding the newborn's state and understanding the newborn's Sign of Over-Stimulation), how to respond to the newborn's Sign of Over-Stimulation, cues for effective breastfeeding, and understanding the two sleep cycles. In the last part, we use swaddles and baby dolls and practice the effective way to calm a fussing or crying baby. We also invite a mother or father who is already raising a child to share their difficulties, challenges, and hints for child-rearing with participants. In the program we give the participants handouts and a HUG DVD that explain the skills we presented in the program so that they can utilize it at home whenever needed. Now we are gathering outcome data to measure the achievements of the program aims. By examining these outcomes, we will be able to consider and modify the contents of the Japanese “HUG” program for a better fit with Japanese parents.