Nurturing attachments group: A virtual group intervention for adults caring for traumatised children in the context of COVID-19

Background: Evidence indicates that the more traditional and behavioural parenting strategies are ineffective when parenting a child who has experienced developmental trauma. Recognising the need to parent with an attachment focus, the current paper evaluates the effectiveness of running the [Enfys] Nurturing Attachments Group, virtually, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A pilot feasibility study evaluated eight bespoke groups. Consenting professionals and co-professionals completed the Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (BFSS), Care Questionnaire (CQ) and the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). Results: One hundred forty individuals attended the groups, with 51 (36%) completing both pre-and post-measures. The results provide evidence that professionals and co-professionals reported statistically significant positive increases on both the BPSS ( d = .55) and CQ ( d = .62). For the PRFQ, the results showed a statistically significant decrease on the Pre-mentalising sub scale, a non-significant mid-range score for Certainty about Mental States and a non-significant increase for Parental Interest and Curiosity in Mental States. Conclusion: The study has demonstrated initial viability of effectively facilitating the [Enfys] Nurturing Attachments Group, virtually. Importantly, it has also shown that the group can be run with professionals alongside co-professionals.

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Improving the parent–child relationship and child adjustment through parental reflective functioning group intervention

Attachment & Human Development ◽

10.1080/14616734.2021.1919159 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Atara Menashe-Grinberg ◽

Shlomit Shneor ◽

Gal Meiri ◽

Naama Atzaba-Poria

Keyword(s):

Group Intervention ◽

Child Adjustment ◽

Reflective Functioning ◽

Parent Child Relationship ◽

Parental Reflective Functioning ◽

Child Relationship ◽

Parent Child

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Parental mentalization: A critical literature review of mind-mindedness, parental insightfulness and parental reflective functioning

Cognition Brain Behavior An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.24193/cbb.2021.25.05 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 69-105

Author(s):

Flavia L Medrea ◽

Oana Benga

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Literature Review ◽

Reflective Functioning ◽

Mental States ◽

Integrative Review ◽

Comprehensive Understanding ◽

Parental Reflective Functioning ◽

Similarities And Differences ◽

Methodological Aspects ◽

Critical Literature

Parental mentalization captures the parent’s abilities to represent his/her child as a psychological agent and the parent’s proclivity to understand and interpret child’s behavior in terms of mental states. Under this label, the literature emphasizes three different constructs: mind-mindedness, parental reflective functioning and insightfulness. Presently, there is no integrative review addressing all three constructs comprehensively through a comparative analysis. Furthermore, there is some confusion as to where the concepts overlap and differ, how they are distinctively operationalized and which measures are used to tap into each one of them. To address this issue, this article aims to synthesize the literature in a critical manner, reviewing mind-mindedness, parental reflective functioning and insightfulness. This study identifies key theoretical and methodological aspects of parental mentalization constructs (e.g., definition and conceptualization, measurements, parental and child correlates, strengths and weaknesses). Moreover, the constructs are compared based on their similarities and differences regarding definition, conceptualization and measurements. Finally, the paper offers some directions for further research. This review informs research in the field by providing an integrative and comprehensive understanding of parental mentalization.

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Examining Mothers’ Childhood Maltreatment History, Parental Reflective Functioning, and the Long-Term Effects of the Minding the Baby® Home Visiting Intervention

Child Maltreatment ◽

10.1177/1077559521999097 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107755952199909

Author(s):

Eileen M. Condon ◽

Amalia Londono Tobon ◽

Margaret L. Holland ◽

Arietta Slade ◽

Linda Mayes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Childhood Maltreatment ◽

Emotional Abuse ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Reflective Functioning ◽

Mental States ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Childhood Trauma Questionnaire ◽

Parental Reflective Functioning ◽

Early Childhood Interventions

Research is needed to better understand how childhood maltreatment history affects parental reflective capacities, and whether early childhood interventions help mitigate these effects. We examined associations between childhood maltreatment and current parenting (parental reflective functioning, parenting behaviors) among mothers who participated in a follow-up study ( N = 97) of the Minding the Baby® (MTB) randomized control trial. MTB is a home visiting program that aims to help mothers understand their child’s mental states (feelings, intentions, needs) by promoting parental reflective functioning. Mothers retrospectively reported childhood maltreatment using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Endorsing a higher number of childhood maltreatment subtypes was associated with less supportive/engaged parenting and higher pre-mentalizing modes, or difficulty with appropriately reflecting on the child’s mental states. These relationships were not moderated by participation in the MTB intervention. However, exploratory analyses of individual maltreatment subtypes revealed that participation in MTB may mitigate the harmful effects of childhood emotional abuse on pre-mentalizing modes, specifically. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms through which early childhood interventions may prevent intergenerational cycles of maltreatment.

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