Environmental factors in the first years of life are crucial for a child’s neurodevelopment. Research on the association between breastfeeding and neurodevelopment is inconclusive, while research on the possible association between other dietary factors and neurodevelopment is inadequate in children as young as one year of age. The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between both breastfeeding and other dietary factors and the neurodevelopment of one-year-old children in Norway. Methods: Participants were recruited from kindergartens in four Norwegian counties in 2017. A questionnaire including questions about dietary factors and breastfeeding, and a standardised age-related questionnaire on neurodevelopment (the Ages and Stages Questionnaire), were completed by parents of one-year-olds. Linear regressions adjusting for relevant covariates were conducted to explore the associations. Results: In our sample of 212 one-year-old children, a longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with higher neurodevelopmental scores. Dietary intake of fish, fruits and vegetables was also strongly associated with higher neurodevelopmental scores, even after adjustment for breastfeeding and maternal education. Conclusion: Our results indicate that healthy dietary factors are important for neurodevelopment in young children, with measurable effects already at the age of one year.
Background Interventions that promote infant mental health face challenges when applied for parents who struggle with psychosocial and psychological burdens. Video-based guidance using the Marte Meo method is used in specialized clinical settings with high-risk families to improve parent-child interaction, parental sensitivity and mentalizing. However, knowledge about the lifeworlds of these parents and their experiences of the therapeutic process during video guidance is limited. Aim This qualitative study explores how parents in an infant mental health outpatient clinic who had difficulties mentalizing and maintaining an emotional connection with their infants experienced the change process during Marte Meo video guidance. Methods We identified a strategic sample of parents with difficulties mentalizing and maintaining an emotional connection with their infants through the Parent Development Interview. Twelve parents received video guidance and were afterwards interviewed in-depth. The research interviews were qualitatively analysed via a team-based reflexive thematic analysis. Result We identified four themes: a) feeling inadequate or disconnected as a parent; b) discovering the infant as a relating and intentional person; c) becoming more agentic and interconnected; and d) still feeling challenged by personal mental health issues. Conclusion Parents described positive changes in their interactions, in mentalizing their infants, the relationship and themselves as parents, in their experiences of self-efficacy and on a representational level. They also described increased confidence and improved coping despite ongoing personal mental health challenges. The findings suggest that video guidance using the Marte Meo method can be a critical intervention for vulnerable parents but should be coordinated with parents’ primary treatments when complex parental mental health issues are involved.
Marte Meo video guidance uses filmed interaction of the actual parent-infant dyad in the guidance of caregivers. Exploring the challenges that therapists meet in the guidance of parent-infant dyads may illuminate important aspects of the method itself as well as the therapists' role and requirements. This could lead to method development and improved practice, but is hitherto little addressed. In this paper, we explore how skilled therapists experience and handle challenging or failing guidance processes with parent-infant dyads. We analyzed interviews with 13 Marte Meo therapists/supervisors using team-based reflexive thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified: promoting relational growth in a coercive context, building an alliance that feels safe for the parents, looking at positive moments in difficult lives, and handling intense feelings as a therapist. Our findings show that therapists experience specific therapeutic and ethical challenges with a vulnerable subgroup of parent-infant dyads where child protective issues arise, where caregivers' insecurities impede the therapeutic relationship, and where caregivers have unsolved relational or mental health problems. The therapists' role becomes pivotal and demanding with regard to the therapeutic alliance, the therapeutic interventions in the guidance process, and their own need for regulation, supervision, and structure. Identification of these vulnerable dyads early in the process could facilitate a better adaptation and practice of video guidance. Our findings suggest a need for supporting structures, clinical supervision, and training that address these challenges.
ObjectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the effects of emotionally oriented parental interventions.BackgroundSeveral emotionally oriented parental interventions have been developed during the last decade. Some of these have gained popularity and spread across several continents. The literature is growing and consists of qualitative studies; intervention only, quasi-experimental, case-control studies; and randomized controlled trials. They indicate effects for parents and children. However, no systematic review or meta-analysis has, to our knowledge, summarized the results.MethodUsing several search engines, we located 8,272 studies. After abstract and full-text screening, 33 studies were assessed for bias and included in the study. Outcomes for parents and children were extracted and combined into three constructs for parents and two for children. Meta-analyses were conducted for each construct to estimate the effect of the interventions using a robust Bayes meta-analysis.ResultsThe results indicate the presence of a small to medium effect on parents' mental health, behavior, and use of emotionally oriented parenting, as well as on children's internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Most participants were recruited from the general population, and clinical settings were rare. The results show little evidence of publication bias.ConclusionThere is evidence of a small to medium effect of emotionally oriented interventions on parents and children.Systematic review registrationhttps://osf.io/un3q4/.
Background: Parents are a central focus in clinical infant mental health interventions because of the key importance of the caregiver-infant relationship, especially when dyads are burdened by psychosocial and parental mental health problems. However, knowledge is scarce about the lived experience of vulnerable parents who undergo video-based guidance.Aim: The study explores how parents in an infant-psychiatric outpatient clinic who struggled to mentalize and remain emotionally connected to their infant experienced helpful and challenging elements in video guidance.Method: We analyzed the interviews of a strategic sample of 12 parents after undergoing Marte Meo video guidance, using a team-based, reflexive thematic analysis (TA).Results: We identified four main themes: (a) Handling initial feelings of fear and loss of control; (b) Filming as a disturbing or agentic experience; (c) Feeling validated or devalued in the therapeutic relationship; and (d) Bringing insights from video guidance into everyday life. Therapeutic and existential factors became apparent in the main themes of adjustment to the guidance, experiences with filming, the therapeutic relationship and integration of new experiences.Conclusion: The parents’ sense of agency, dignity, and shame may be important for their ability to integrate new ideas about themselves.Implications: Video guidance for vulnerable parents in specialized clinical treatment should address relational challenges, parental mental health, and issues of recognition.
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