Mellow Parenting and VIG

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Mellow Parenting and VIG

• Christine Puckering
• Royal Hospital for Sick Children
• Glasgow

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What is Mellow Parenting?

• Support for parents and for parenting
• 14 weeks, full day course for mothers and
  children under 5 including - personal group-
  hands on intervention- parenting workshop
  based on parents own videotapes- homework
• Mellow Babies for children under 1 year of age

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Philosophical/ Theoretical Framework
- parents are the experts on their own
children- group is offered to parents not
prescribed- emphasis on positives but
acknowledgement of difficulties- integration
of theoretical models including
psychotherapeutic, adult education, behavioural-
respect for individual differences- avoidance of
expert role- parenting model, 6 dimensions,
basis of evaluation and of parenting workshops
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Caveats

• Low levels of trust
• Low levels of self esteem
• Poor literacy

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• Worksheet
• If you had a fairy godmother what would you have
  liked her to have given you?
• If you had a wicked godmother what did she curse
  you with?
• If your child had a fairy godmother what would
  you like her to have given him or her?

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Parenting Workshop

• Give mothers catalogues
• If you had 80 to spend on toys for your child
  what from the catalogue would you buy and why?

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Research Design

• Before, after and follow-up
• Case control study
• Measures maternal interview questionnaires c
  hild development observed interaction

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Parenting Daily Hassles(Intensity)
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Good Involvement in Index and Control Groups
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WPPSI Verbal Scale
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Mellow Babies

• Babies under a year
• Conditions that impair good relationships
• post natal depression
• child protection
• Personal groupself esteem, depression, eating
  disorders
• Activities for under ones to promote engagement
• Parenting workshops using video and promoting
  sensitivity

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Observed Positive Mother-infant Interaction13
Babies before and after Mellow Babies Group
plt0.05 t-test
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Observed Negative Mother-infant Interaction13
Babies before and after Mellow Babies Group
plt0.05, t-test
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• Mellow Parenting
• Group format
• Work on narrative history planned and explicit
• Explicit focus on maternal mental health
• Explicit focus on plans
• Opportunity to analyse own and others interaction
• Tape not edited-mums choose what to share
• Positives emphasised but problems acknowledged

• VIG
• Individual
• Work on history led by process
• Maternal mental health addressed as it emerges
• Traject plan emerges
• Opportunity to analyse own interaction in greater
  depth
• Tape edited by practitioner
• Only positives fed back

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What works in infant mental health?

• Narrow focus on sensitivity alone
• Between 5 and 16 sessions
• After 6 months of age no advantage in antenatal
  intervention
• Programmes including fathers showed increased
  sensitivity in fathers but diluted effects for
  mothers
• The use of video feedback increased effect sizes
  for sensitivity but reduced them for attachment
  though still effective
• Bakermans-Kranenburg M.J., van IJzendoorn M.H.,
  Juffer F., 2003. Less is more meta-analyses of
  sensitivity and attachment interventions in early
  childhood. Psychological Bulletin 129(2),
  195-215.

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Conclusions

• We continue to need researchanswers are emerging
  but the picture is still incomplete
• Is it worth working with very young infants and
  their parents?
• Early relationships are highly malleable-babies
  active in making the best of the available
  resources
• Long term effects on the baby of poor
  relationships well established
• Not worthwhile, essential!

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