An Exploratory Study of the Impact of the Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative (BAMBI) in Previously Incarcerated Mothers

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of women who have been incarcerated in prisons across the United States during the past decade and the fastest growing segment are women of childbearing age (Zust, Busiahn, & Janisch, 2013). Texas leads the United States in the number of women incarcerated and 5% are estimated being pregnant when entering prison. A series of seminal studies of mothers in prison by Chambers (2009) and Byrne (2013) have pointed to potential detrimental effects on maternal-infant attachment when incarcerated mothers and infants are separated at birth.
The purpose of this exploratory pilot study was to examine the impact of a unique prison nursery program entitled Baby and Infant Bonding Initiative (BAMBI) on maternal infant attachment and nurturing competencies among previously incarcerated women who gave birth in prison and graduated from the BAMBI program. A sample of 41 participants were recruited from a population of 215 women through a closed “members only” BAMBI Alumni Facebook page and non-probability snowball sampling and responded via Survey Monkey or mailed surveys to instruments which measured maternal-infant attachment and nurturing. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance, correlation coefficients, multiple regression, and logistic regression. Although many specific aims were not significant, one notable finding was that a significant predictor of positive maternal nurturance was related to the number of children living in the mother’s household post incarceration. Conversely, however, the number of children in the household was the most significant predictor of an increased risk for infants to have insecure attachment to mothers.
Results of this study provided initial data on effects of a prison nursery program on maternal-child attachment and nurturance among previously incarcerated mothers and their infants. The study adds to research literature about this growing population of women who give birth in prisons and underscores the need for more prison nursery programs for pregnant prisoners to help reduce risks of insecure child attachment and enhance maternal nurturing. Future research should include larger samples of BAMBI graduates with more sensitive instruments and longitudinal studies that examine comparative outcomes of prison-based and community nursery programs.