Efficacy of the 20-Week Circle of Security Intervention: Changes in Caregiver Reflective Functioning, Representations, and Child Attachment in an Australian Clinical Sample

Abstract

Circle of Security is an attachment theory based intervention that aims to promote secure parent-child attachment relationships. Despite extensive uptake of the approach, there is limited empirical evidence regarding efficacy. The current study examined whether participation in the 20-week Circle of Security intervention resulted in positive caregiver-child relationship change in four domains: caregiver reflective functioning; caregiver representations of the child and the relationship with the child; child attachment security, and attachment disorganization. Archived pre- and postintervention data were analyzed from 83 clinically referred caregiver-child dyads (child age: 13-88 months) who completed the Circle of Security intervention in sequential cohorts and gave permission for their data to be included in the study. Caregivers completed the Circle of Security Interview, and dyads were filmed in the Strange Situation Procedure before and after the intervention. Results supported all four hypotheses: Caregiver reflective functioning, caregiving representations, and level of child attachment security increased after the intervention, and level of attachment disorganization decreased for those with high baseline levels. Those whose scores were least optimal prior to intervention showed the greatest change in all domains. This study adds to the evidence suggesting that the 20-week Circle of Security intervention results in significant relationship improvements for caregivers and their children.

Circle of Security–Parenting: A randomized controlled trial in Head Start

“…In two studies, the original COS 20-week protocol was associated with significant decreases in attachment insecurity and disorganization, as compared to attachment assessed prior to COS (Hoffman et al, 2006; Huber, McMahon, & Sweller, 2015a). Further, in a RCT, a four-session home-visiting version of the COS video-feedback protocol revealed interaction effects among intervention, infant temperament, and maternal attachment style; a key finding was that the COS intervention was efficacious in reducing insecure attachment for infant–mother dyads at greatest risk (Cassidy, Woodhouse, Sherman, Stupica, & Lejuez, 2011).…”

Improved Parental Emotional Functioning After Circle of Security 20-Week Parent–Child Relationship Intervention

“…Reduced child behavior problems (Huber et al 2015a), may also have contributed to reduced parenting stress, as our exploratory analyses indicated associations between these changes. There are robust links between child behavioral and emotional functioning and parent emotional functioning because of the transactional nature of the parent-child relationship (e.g.…”

“…A subsequent study with the same sample found improved child behavioral and emotional adjustment after the Circle of Security intervention, including parent reported increases in child social and emotional protective factors, parent reported reductions in child behavioral concerns and internalizing symptoms, and parent and teacher reported decreases in child externalizing symptoms, all with medium effect sizes (Huber et al 2015a). The current study aimed to extend these findings by examining whether participating in the Circle of Security 20-week intervention was also associated with reduced parenting stress and psychological symptomatology.…”

“…Because measures of parent representations, reflective functioning, parenting stress and symptomatology were obtained at the same time, the study design did not allow us to test if changes found in the parent relational capacities targeted by the intervention, and/or previously reported change in child behavior (Huber et al 2015a) predicted changes in parenting stress and psychopathology. However, correlational analyses explored whether changes in these targeted variables and child behavior were related to changes in parent emotional functioning, not directly targeted by the intervention.…”

Mothers’ implicit appraisals of their adolescents as unlovable: Explanatory factor linking family conflict and harsh parenting.

“…Research with infants and young children has shown that parents who attribute their child’s misbehavior to internal, stable characteristics are more likely to use harsh and overreactive parenting practices (Snarr et al, 2009). Similarly, mothers with more negative caregiving schemas were found to be less sensitive, less engaged, and less encouraging in parent-child interactions, (Huber, McMahon, & Sweller, 2015; Slade, Belsky, Aber, & Phelps, 1999). However, despite the well-established findings with parents of young children, when it comes to adolescence, only one study has tested for a direct link between parental caregiving representations and parenting behavior.…”