From July 14 to 20, 2023, the 18th World Congress for the World Association of Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) was held at the Convention Center Dublin. With the theme of "Early Relationships Matter: Advancing Practice, Policy and Research in Infant Mental Health", nearly 3000 infant psychologists, pediatricians, child psychoanalysts, and scholars in the fields of pediatrics and neurology from 48 countries attended the congress.
Professor Li Hui is the only member of the World Association for Infant Mental Health in China, and her team has been long-term engaged in clinical and basic research on the effect of maternal perinatal stress on infant mental health and maternal-infant bonding behavior. The team delivered two presentations entitled "Associations between maternal prenatal depression and neonatal behavior and brain function-Evidence from fNIRS" and "0-2 month infants brain network function, mother-infant bonding and care model: a fNIRS study" at the congress. For the first time, the team applied fNIRS technology combined with NBO and NBAS for behavior assessment, which confirmed the effect of prenatal psychological stress and different care modes in early life on infant behavior and brain function, providing scientific basis and clinical practice guidance for establishing favorable maternal-infant bonding in early life.
The team has established long-term cooperation with Professor Kevin Nugent from Boston Children's Hospital of Harvard Medical School, and introduced NBO technology into China for the first time in 2014. As a member of the International Union for Observation and Evaluation of Neonatal Behavior, Professor Li Hui is the only Chinese expert invited to participate in the seminar prior to the congress. At the seminar, she stressed that "studying the psychological stress of perinatal mothers and blocking the inter-generational transmission of anxiety and depression will provide an objective basis for early detection of abnormal behavior of infants. The intervention technology for children's behavioral development disorder developed by us will bring benefits to more infants and families in China and even the world."
Professor Lise Johnson, Director of Breston Pediatrics Institute from Harvard University, highly recognized the progresses made by Professor Li Hui's team in the field of infant behavior and mental health in China, and discussed with Professor Li Hui's team how to carry out work in China in the future, hoping to cooperate with Professor Li Hui's team to establish "NBAS and NBO" training center in China and spare no effort to assist the team to conduct relevant training work.
Professor Li Hui and her team have participated in multiple high-level international conferences. As the representative of China at the congress, she showcased scientific research achievements in the field of infant psychological behavior in the First Affiliated Hospital (FAH) of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), further deepened international cooperation, created more opportunities for in-depth cooperation and cultivated a young team, playing a positive role in strengthening academic influence of the FAH in infant psychological behavior and brain development research at home and abroad.
