Supporting the adolescent mother–infant relationship: preliminary trial of a brief perinatal attachment intervention

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test a brief, attachment intervention added to routine maternity care that aims to improve the adolescent mother-infant relationship during transition to motherhood. A pre-test, post-test, peer-control-group trial was set in a large tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Participants were multi-cultural, pregnant adolescents (n = 97). The two-session 'AMPLE' intervention was provided in late pregnancy and neonatally. The main outcome measure was mother-infant interaction quality at age 4 months, blind-coded using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) (fourth edition). Study acceptability was high: participation rate 82.9 % and completion rate 75.3 %. Thirty-five participants received the intervention plus usual care (intervention group) and 38 received usual care (control group). There were no pre-test between-group differences across demographic, psychosocial or obstetric domains. At post-test, mother-infant interaction was significantly better in the intervention group. MANOVA analyses showed an overall intervention effect on emotional availability in 20 min of free play (n = 73), F (6,65) = 5.05, p < .01, partial η (2) = .32, and in 25 min of play plus brief separation-reunion (n = 55), F (6,48) = 2.72, p = .02, partial η (2) = .25. T tests showed significant between-group differences in specific EAS subscales. All effect sizes were medium-large. This promising intervention appears to exert a clinically meaningful effect on the adolescent mother-infant relationship. Further research is warranted to replicate the findings and confirm causality. The study suggests a brief attachment focus, incorporated into routine maternity care, could influence the developmental trajectory of infants of young mothers from birth.

Protocol for the Northern babies longitudinal study: predicting postpartum depression and improving parent–infant interaction with The Newborn Behavioral Observation

“… 77 By increasing parental sensitivity, the intervention also has the potential to positively affect biomarkers related to infant stress, as indicated by previous studies of attachment-based interventions. 78 However, research on the effect of NBO as a preventive intervention is scarce, and there is a need for more studies.…”

The “EA brief”: A single session of parent feedback and coaching to improve emotional attachment and emotional availability (EA)

“…Relevant to this study, the shorter preventive interventions were actually more effective than the longer, more intensive programs. Similarly, Nicolson et al (2013) conducted a brief (2-session) intervention with adolescent mothers, and found that this was effective in enhancing several dimensions of emotional availability in the mother-child relationship.…”

Les stratégies d’intervention offertes aux jeunes mères sont-elles efficaces pour prévenir la maltraitance envers leurs enfants?

“…La deuxième hypothèse est que les interventions optimisant le soutien maternel et les interactions mère-enfant sont les plus efficaces pour prévenir l'apparition de maltraitance chez les jeunes mères. Comme l'ajout d'une composante d'intervention basée sur l'attachement à un programme pour jeunes mères a déjà démontré des effets positifs sur la qualité de la relation mère-enfant et sur la disponibilité affective (Nicolson et al, 2013), il est possible de croire que ces effets positifs puissent aussi se traduire par un taux de maltraitance significativement plus faible.…”