Research demonstrates that highly self-critical individuals can respond negatively to the initial introduction of a range of therapeutic interventions. Yet touch as a form of therapeutic intervention in self-critical individuals has received limited prior investigation, despite documentation of its beneficial effects for well-being. Using the Forms of Self-Criticism/Self-Reassuring Scale, 15 high- and 14 low- self-critical individuals (from a sample of 139 females) were recruited to assess how self-criticism impacts upon a single instance of focused touch. All participants took part in a hand massage- and haptic control- intervention. Salivary cortisol and alpha amylase, as well as questionnaire measures of emotional responding were taken before and after the interventions. Following hand massage, analyses revealed cortisol decreased significantly across all participants; and that significant changes in emotional responding reflected well-being improvements across all participants. Supplementary analyses further revealed decreased alpha amylase responding to hand massage as compared to a compassion-focused intervention in the same (highly self-critical) individuals. Taken together, the physiological and emotional data indicate high self-critical individuals responded in a comparable manner to low self-critical individuals to a single instance of hand massage. This highlights that focused touch may be beneficial when first engaging highly self-critical individuals with specific interventions.

Introduction: self-efficacy matches the belief that a person has that she is able to produce the results she wants to achieve. The beliefs of self-efficacy that parents have about the baby emerge as a powerful predictor of positive parenting. Objective: this study aimed to evaluate the maternal self-efficacy behavior in hospitalized mothers and validate an instrument for measuring this concept developed and validated in England by Barnes and Adamson-Macedo, in 2007. Method: this crosssectional exploratory study convenience cohort comprised 87 mothers of newborn babies, 26 premature and 61 full-term infants. The scale Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E), which consists of 20 items that represent four subscales was tested for reliability and validity. Results: the internal consistency of the scale PAEPM reached a value of .86, the internal consistency and reliability estimates for each of the subscales also reached acceptable values. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) confirmed the validity of the construct and the scores of self-efficacy were normally distributed for both subgroups and total sample. Conclusions: PMP S-E scale proved to be an easy application tool and psychometrically robust, reliable and valid for use with mothers of hospitalized new-borns both premature as the term clinically stable. It is a reliable method of identifying mothers of babies who need more support from the hospital staff.