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Randomised controlled trial of Parent-infant Psychotherapy
When a parent of a young infant is suffering from a mental health problem, the real patient is the parent-infant relationship. The Parent-Infant Psychotherapy is an innovative relationship-based intervention aimed at promoting the parent-infant relationship in order to facilitate infant development. The primary ‘patient’ is the relationship and therapy session always include both the parent and the baby.
This project was built on the necessity to evaluate this relationship-focused therapeutic intervention in comparison with the health and support services that are routinely available to parents and young infants in their local areas.
Methodology
Mother infant dyads were recruited from three large general practices serving deprived and socially excluded populations in the London area. This multi-method study utilised a two group experimental design in which participants were randomly allocated to either the experimental group, receiving weekly sessions of ‘Parent-Infant Psychotherapy’, or the control group, receiving ‘Treatment as Usual’ (i.e. postnatal/ breast feeding support groups, midwifery services, health visiting, perinatal psychiatric services et al.).
Mother-infant dyads were assessed at three time points (baseline, 6 month and 12 month follow up) using a standardised battery of outcome measures which fall into three main categories: maternal variables, including mental health and parenting stress; infant variables, including standardised assessments of physical and socio-emotional development; the quality of the parent-infant relationship.
Expected outcomes
At present, we have reached the end of the recruitment period and we expect to complete the follow up data collection over the next 12 months.
The data analysis will involve comparing outcomes of infant development for parent-infant dyads who attended weekly sessions of Parent-Infant Psychotherapy with outcomes for parent-infant dyads who continued accessing the health and support services available in the their community. Secondly, we will explore possible changes in maternal mental states and emotional well being for the parent-infant dyads who attended PIP versus those who received treatment as usual. A third and broader aim is to explore the parents’ expectations and experiences of support services in order to improve our understanding of the barriers that the parents experience in relation to accessing psychological help.
By comparing the effects of the different types of treatment, we will hopefully be able to highlight the best methods to provide psychological support to mothers with mental health difficulties and their infants.
These results will hopefully generate significant impact in the realm of evidence-based health care.
Research Team
Michelle Sleed
Flavia Ansaldo
Sam Taylor- Colls
Ruth Jennigs-Hobbs
Funding
The RCT is funded by the Big Lottery
