The Meaning of the Child Interview (MotC) – the initial validation of a new procedure for assessing and understanding the parent-child relationships of “at risk” families

Abstract

2017), 'The Meaning of The Child Interview (MotC)-The initial validation of a new procedure for assessing and understanding the parent-child relationships of 'at risk' families,

Feeling ‘like you’re on … a prison ship’ – Understanding the caregiving and attachment narratives of parents of autistic children

“…These defensive caregiving ‘options’ of rejecting, withdrawing and/or merging enable the parent to keep going, but will be experienced as ruptures by the child, who must organise self-protectively around them (Grey and Farnfield, 2017a, 2017b) and experience the same sense of shame in not being fully ‘seen’ by their parent (Deyoung, 2015; Tronick and Beeghly, 2011). This is likely to intensify the child’s social disconnection, which may function self-protectively to enable the child to manage the relationship without being overwhelmed (Brewerton et al, 2017).…”

“…These interviews were analysed using the Meaning of the Child interview analysis (MotC: Grey and Farnfield, 2017a, 2017b) which utilises and builds upon the Attachment-based Discourse Analysis based on the Dynamic Maturational Model of attachment (Crittenden and Landini, 2011). This model adds a substantial constructivist lens to attachment theory in focussing on the patterns of meanings that shape the parent–child relationships.…”

“…Causal explanations are sought, but located in the particular relational and social context of each family and only then tentatively abstracted to more general formulations of the difficulties experienced by the group. Without entirely losing the ability of these procedures to evaluate psychosocial risk (Grey and Farnfield, 2017b), this study focusses on the process of meaning-making in particular relationships through a qualitative approach. At the same time, the attachment-based analysis can illuminate the interpersonal quality of parental discourse in a way that is often missing in the existing qualitative research with parents of autistic children.…”

“…Winnicott (1967) called the mother a mirror to the infant’s gaze, with the infant learning who they are from how they are seen. Subsequent mentalising research has supported this suggestion that the meaning the parent gives to their child’s experience has a formative effect on the development of the child (Grey and Farnfield, 2017a, 2017b; Luyten et al, 2017). In addition, there is a growing body of evidence attesting to the presence of significant trauma, mood and mental health disorders experienced by parents of autistic children prior to the birth of the autistic child (Bolton et al, 1998; Demir et al, 2008; Jokiranta et al, 2013; Montaque et al, 2018; Roberts et al, 2013, 2014, 2015).…”

The Meaning of the Child Interview: A new procedure for assessing and understanding parent–child relationships of ‘at-risk’ families

“…For the most part, the MotC has employed a modified version of the PDI, but the system of analysis has been used clinically with other interviews as it has no theoretical or practical reliance on any particular interview protocol. Similarly, while the focus of the MotC’s validation study (Grey, 2014a, 2014b; Grey & Farnfield, 2016) was parents (mothers and fathers) of children aged 0–3 years, because of the method’s original link with the CARE-Index, the interview has been used with parents of children of all ages, including grandparents in relation to both their adult children and their grandchildren. While further work around validity of these other uses is needed, in individual clinical cases where there is support from established procedures, the use of the interview has proved fruitful.…”