Development and Preliminary Evaluation of Family Minds: A Mentalization-based Psychoeducation Program for Foster Parents

Adkins, Tina; Luyten, Patrick; Fonagy, Peter

doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1080-x

Cited by 69 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Parents’ general mind-mindedness did not significantly change after the training, indicating that the intervention did not directly affect their ability to mentalize about their foster child. This is in line with Adkins et al ( 2018 ), who evaluated a short foster parents’ training in reflective functioning. Although they found enhanced reflective functioning in the foster parents, only some were able to comprehend the mental states that underlie behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

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‘Caring for children who have experienced trauma’ – an evaluation of a training for foster parents

Konijn¹,

Colonnesi

Kroneman

et al. 2020

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Foster children, mostly maltreated in their birth families, may be fostered by parents who know little about the impact of traumatic experiences. Objective: The present study investigated whether the training Caring for Children who Have Experienced Trauma for foster parents can break the negative circle of traumatic stress. The hypothesis was that improvement in parents' knowledge on trauma and mind-mindedness would be associated with a reduction of their parenting stress, children's post-traumatic stress symptoms, and behaviour problems. Method: Forty-eight foster parents (n female = 35) participated in a pre-test (T1), post-test (T2), and follow-up (T3) assessment. Questionnaires on knowledge on trauma, parenting stress, child post-traumatic stress symptoms, the child's behaviour, and the evaluation of the training were administered. Parents' mind-mindedness was assessed using the describeyour-child interview. Results: Foster parents highly appreciated the training, their knowledge on child trauma increased at T2 and this growth persisted at T3. The parents who gained most knowledge experienced a small decrease in parenting stress at T2. Although the general mindmindedness did not significantly change, foster parents' mind-mindedness with positive valence substantially increased at T2 and T3, while their mind-mindedness with neutral valence decreased. Foster parents' report on child PTSS declined at T3 compared to T2, but not compared to T1. No changes were found in children's behaviour as reported by the foster parents. The proportion of foster children receiving trauma-focused treatment increased at T2 and T3. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that training in trauma-informed parenting can be effective in improving foster parents' knowledge on the impact of traumatic experiences and in increasing a positive mental representation of their foster child as well as in reducing children's post-traumatic symptoms.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This study investigated whether a less intensive intervention, such as a training curriculum for foster parents, also can enhance parental sensitivity and the ability to mentalize. Some preliminary evidence for this has already been found in a study by Adkins, Luyten, and Fonagy ( 2018 ).…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Training For Foster Parents ‘Caring For Chmentioning

confidence: 53%

‘Caring for children who have experienced trauma’ – an evaluation of a training for foster parents

Konijn¹,

Colonnesi

Kroneman

et al. 2020

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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“…A significant difference was found between the groups in term of post-RF scores, with the intervention group demonstrating significantly increased levels of RF. The positive results were supported further by Adkins et al (2018). At treatment end, there were large effect sizes found for RF as measured by the PRFQ ( d = .74) and the FMSS ( d = 1.31) for those randomised to the Family Mind programme compared to those in the control group.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Enav et al, (2019) also used the PDI for parents of children with autism. Bammens et al (2015) and Adkins et al (2018) assessed parental RF using the five minute speech sample (FMSS; Magaña-Amato, 1983) coded for RF using the RF scale (Fonagy et al, 1998) in their respective analysis of the Family Minds programme for foster and adoptive parents. Midgley et al (2019a) used the FMSS for foster parents but it was not reported as an outcome measure in the study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mentalization-based treatments with children and families: A systematic review of the literature

Byrne

Murphy

Connon

2020

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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Objectives: Over the past decade, mentalization-based treatment (MBT) approaches have been developed specifically for children, adolescents and families. This study provides a systematic review of MBT applicable to both children and families. Method: Five databases were searched to identify reports of MBT studies published up to February 2020. Studies were screened and reported according to PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 34 studies were included in this review. Of these, 14 focused on parent–child dyads, two on child therapy, seven applied the approach to parenting, four evaluated the application of MBT to the school environment and seven focused on adolescent populations. Conclusion: Despite methodological shortcomings and heterogeneity in design, the existing literature does provide tentative support for the use of MBT approaches for these populations, specifically in increasing mentalizing/reflective functioning. Further controlled and methodologically rigorous studies are required.

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“…The FMSS will be recorded for each caregiver at the beginning of the study and prior to each session. The FMSS has been used for over 30 years to assess the emotional expressiveness of parents towards their children [39], but over recent years its has increasingly been used as a tool for assessing parents’ or caregivers’ reflective functioning [40, 41]. RF levels are obtained by coding the transcription according to the Reflective functioning evaluation manual with a scale that goes from − 1 (avoidance or rejection of mentalization) to 9 points (complete or exceptional RF).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Video feedback intervention to enhance parental reflective functioning in primary caregivers of inpatient psychiatric children: protocol for a randomized feasibility trial

Leyton

Olhaberry

Alvarado

et al. 2019

Trials

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Background Children requiring hospitalization for psychiatric care have serious disorders, high use of psychotropic medication, and frequent readmissions. The development and implementation of therapies focused on incorporating primary caregivers or attachment figures is necessary for working with children with severe psychiatric disorders. Mentalization or parental reflective functioning (PRF) is the ability of parents to understand their children’s behaviors as an expression of internal emotional states and act accordingly to help them regulate their emotions; in this way mentalizing is a key component of sensitive parenting. Video-assisted therapies have proven to be effective in promoting change in parent–child relationships. The majority of studies have been carried out with mothers of pre-school children and in an outpatient setting. Video intervention therapy (VIT) is a flexible manualized therapy, which allows the intervention to be individualized to the context where it is applied, according to the needs and resources of the people who participate in it. The objective of the study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of applying VIT to improve the PRF of the parents as primary carers of children hospitalized in a psychiatric service. Methods This is a pilot randomized, single-masked (outcome assessor) study with a qualitative component. It will involve a block randomization procedure to generate a 2:1 allocation (with more people allocated to the intervention arm). The intervention consists of four modules; every module has both one video-recorded play session and one VIT session per week. People assigned to the control group will receive treatment as usual plus weekly play sessions. Feasibility and acceptability of the study will be quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. Evaluation of the caregivers will include assessments of PRF, wellbeing and personality structure; assessments of children will include parent-ratings and clinician-ratings of symptomatology and general functioning. After every video feedback (VF) session, PRF, the caregiver’s wellbeing and children’s general functioning will be reassessed. Discussion This study will contribute to the currently scarce evidence on how to provide family attachment-based interventions in a child inpatient psychiatric unit. It will also inform the design and implementation of a future randomized clinical trial. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03374904 . Registered on 14 December 2017 (retrospectively registered). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3310-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Development and Preliminary Evaluation of Family Minds: A Mentalization-based Psychoeducation Program for Foster Parents

Cited by 69 publications

References 53 publications

‘Caring for children who have experienced trauma’ – an evaluation of a training for foster parents

‘Caring for children who have experienced trauma’ – an evaluation of a training for foster parents

Mentalization-based treatments with children and families: A systematic review of the literature

Video feedback intervention to enhance parental reflective functioning in primary caregivers of inpatient psychiatric children: protocol for a randomized feasibility trial

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