Still Faces, Different Places: An Assessment of the Literature on the Face-to-Face Still Face Procedure for Cultural Congruence

Cultural understanding is a factor that impacts reliability of research results for observational studies. It is important to include participants of minority groups in research, as many people of color face disproportionate challenges in terms of healthcare access and resources. Within the context of mother-infant attachment, a technique known as the Face-to-Face Still Face procedure can be utilized to observe attachment styles and the bond between a parent and their infant. In order to combat subjectivity within the coding process for this Face-to-Face Still Face procedure, cultural congruence between the participants being observed in the study and the coding researchers qualifying behaviors should be considered. A literature search was conducted in which 12 articles, each utilizing coding to analyze mother-infant bonds, were reviewed to discover whether cultural congruence was reported or considered in the context of the coding process. None of the articles reviewed explicitly stated the cultural, racial, or ethnic backgrounds of the coding researchers. One article noted the nationalities of different members of the research team, with the nationalities of the research team and study participants matching. Another study noted that all the coding researchers were bilingual in the languages spoken by both groups of participants in the study. Details about the coding guidelines, educational background of the coding researchers, and the training process for coders was included in some articles. This review provides a starting point for further research into how a coding researcher’s personal background can influence the coding process, and therefore the reliability of results.