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Infant-Mother Attachment Can Be Improved through Group Intervention: A Preliminary Evaluation in Spain in a Non-Randomized Controlled Trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Bárbara Torres ,
Itziar Alonso-Arbiol ,
María José Cantero  and
Amina Abubakar
Bárbara Torres*
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco (Spain)
Itziar Alonso-Arbiol
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco (Spain)
María José Cantero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Amina Abubakar
Affiliation:
Tilburg University (The Netherlands)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Bárbara Torres, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del País Vasco, 20018 San Sebastián (Spain). Phone: +34-943018317. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The quality of infant-mother attachment has been linked to competence in different domains of child development. Research indicates that early intervention can enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment, though its efficacy in a group format has yet to be evaluated. The current study is aimed at examining the usefulness of a group intervention in enhancing infant-mother attachment. An intervention aimed at addressing aspects such as maternal responsivity, sensitivity and childrearing behaviour was developed by the researchers and experienced psychologists. The intervention spanned a period of 14 months starting from the third quarter of pregnancy. The intervention was evaluated among 24 mothers from the Basque region of Spain. The sample consisted of children of both genders in a similar proportion: 45.8% were boys and 54.2% were girls. The children in this sample were full-term born and did not present symptoms of any serious pre- or postnatal complications. The intervention had a statistically non-significant medium effect. Infants whose mothers had received the intervention showed higher rates of secure attachment compared to children from the control group, as assessed by the Strange Situation observation procedure. A potentially significant confounding variable, maternal attachment, was balanced across the intervention and comparison groups. We can tentatively point out that a group intervention may enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment. Nevertheless, because the study design was not randomized, the results of this study remain preliminary and need replication in a full randomized controlled trial designed study.

La calidad del apego bebé-madre ha sido asociada a la competencia en diferentes dominios del desarrollo infantil. La investigación muestra que la intervención temprana puede mejorar la calidad del apego infante-madre, aunque su eficacia en formato grupal no ha sido todavía suficientemente evaluada. El presente estudio se dirige a examinar la utilidad de una intervención grupal en la mejora del apego del bebé hacia su madre. Esta intervención ha sido desarrollada por las investigadoras y otras psicólogas expertas, y está dirigida a abordar aspectos tales como la responsividad, la sensibilidad y la conducta de crianza de las madres. La intervención tuvo lugar durante un periodo de 14 meses, comenzando desde el tercer cuatrimestre del embarazo. La intervención fue evaluada en 24 madres del País Vasco (España). La muestra estaba formada por bebés de ambos géneros en proporción similar: 45,8% eran niños y 54,2% eran niñas. Los niños de esta muestra eran nacidos a término y no presentaban ningún síntoma de complicaciones pre- o postnatales serias. La intervención tuvo un efecto medio estadísticamente no significativo. Los bebés cuyas madres habían recibido la intervención mostraron tasas más altas de apego seguro en la Situación Extraña que los bebés de las madres del grupo control. El modelo mental de apego de las madres, como potencial variable extraña, estaba equilibrado en los grupos de intervención y comparación. Podemos señalar de forma tentativa que una intervención grupal puede fomentar el apego seguro del bebé hacia su madre. Sin embargo, debido al carácter no aleatorio del diseño, los resultados de este estudio son preliminares y necesitan una replicación a través de un estudio con un diseño controlado aleatorizado.

Keywords

infant-mother attachmentmaternal sensitivitygroup interventioninfantsSpainapego bebé-madresensibilidad maternaintervención grupalinfantesEspaña
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , November 2011 , pp. 630 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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