Promoting Mentalizing in Pupils by Acting on Teachers: Preliminary Italian Evidence of the “Thought in Mind” Project

Abstract

Mentalization research focuses on different aspects of this topic, highlighting individual differences in mentalizing and proposing programs of intervention for children and adults to increase this ability. The “Thought in Mind Project” (TiM Project) provides training targeted to adults—teachers or parents—to increase their mentalization and, consequently, to obtain mentalization improvement in children. The present research aimed to explore for the first time ever the potential of training for teachers based on the TiM Project, regarding the enhancement of mentalizing of an adult who would have interacted as a teacher with children. For this reason, two teachers – similar for meta-cognitive and meta-emotional skills - and their classes (N = 46) were randomly assigned to the training or control condition. In the first case, the teacher participated in training on the implementation of promotion of mentalizing in everyday school teaching strategies; in the second case the teacher participated in a control activity, similar to training for scheduling and methods, but without promoting the implementation of mentalization (in both conditions two meetings lasting about 3 h at the beginning of the school year and two supervisions during the school year were conducted). The children were tested by tasks assessing several aspects of mentalization (second and third-order false belief understanding, Strange Stories, Reading the mind in the Eyes, Mentalizing Task) both before and after the teacher participate in the TiM or control training (i.e., at the beginning and at the end of the school year). The results showed that, although some measured components of mentalization progressed over time, only the TiM Project training group significantly improved in third order false belief understanding and changed - in a greater way compared to the control group – in two of the three components of the Mentalizing Task. These evidences are promising about the idea that the creation of a mentalizing community promotes the mentalization abilities of its members.

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

“…Of the four studies that took place in schools only one specifically measured mentalizing and other related concepts. Valle and colleagues (2016) examined the effectiveness of the ‘Thought in Mind Project’ (TiM Project) which aimed to increase the capacity of teacher’s mentalizing skills. The TiM intervention comprised of two meetings with teachers, each lasting 3 hours.…”

Maternal Distress/Coping and Children's Adaptive Behaviors During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Mediation Through Children's Emotional Experience

“…More attention needs to be paid to vulnerable groups, such as mothers and children, and as a follow-up of this point, a nationwide planning for first aid should be implemented, in which parents receive support and adequate information to manage the relationship with their children. Targeted interventions should be built to reduce psychological distress, focusing on risk and protective factors [see also (78,79)]. Communication during health crisis tailored on families' needs should be developed, even considering building trust in officials (80) and health authorities (81) to enhance the probability that the population follows the non-pharmaceutical established procedures and cope with them.…”

Enhancing advanced Theory of Mind skills in primary school: A training study with 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds

“…The study by Valle and colleagues (Valle et al, ) involved children in Year 4 (9–10 years of age) and was based on the “Resilience Program” created by Bak (). Teachers in the experimental condition were trained on how to promote mentalizing skills through the adoption of everyday school teaching strategies and were then left free to propose to their pupils these activities when and how they preferred.…”

“…However, research on how to translate ToM intervention programmes into everyday school practice is still scarce. The only two exceptions (we are aware of) are the studies by Bianco and Lecce (2016) and by Valle et al (2016). Bianco and Lecce (2016) trained teachers to use a ToM training programme, previously developed by Lecce et al (2014), with their pupils in Year 4 (9-10 years of age).…”