Parent-infant psychotherapy baby clinic groups

To evaluate the impact of parent-infant psychotherapy groups in baby clinics, in terms of:

• infant development

• parents’, infants’ and staff experiences of the clinic

• the focus of the clinic as a whole on the babies’ emotional experiences.

The baby clinic in homeless hostels were evaluated and outcomes for babies and parents in the intervention hostel were compared with outcomes for parent-infant dyads living in hostels where the intervention did not take place. 

For the community baby clinic, qualitative and quantitative changes in the clinic were evaluated from the perspective of the parents, staff and the clinic as a whole.

In the hostel project: indices of mental and motor development of infants in the intervention hostel were significantly improved over time in relation to infants in the comparison hostels. 

No significant differences were found in the parent-infant interactions between the two groups over time. This evaluation indicates that the service model may have positive benefits for the development of this group of infants. 

In the community project: preliminary findings indicate that changes to the clinic were positively viewed by parents and staff. 

Analyses of video footage of the clinic demonstrated far more group cohesion, interaction and infant-directed communication in the clinic following the introduction of the parent-infant focused group. 

Sleed, M., James, J., Baradon, T., Newbery, J. & Fonagy, P. (2011). A psychotherapeutic baby clinic in a hostel for homeless families: Practice and evaluation. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 86(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.2011.02050.x

Michelle Sleed

chaptre@annafreud.org