Mothers in Mind: Exploring the Efficacy of a Dyadic Group Parenting Intervention for Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence and Their Young Children

Abstract

Identifying and responding to the mental health needs of young children (0–4 years) exposed to intimate partner violence is one of the most pressing issues confronting child mental health and welfare sectors today. Children exposed to IPV (CEIPV) are at an increased risk of experiencing maltreatment, developing emotional and behavioral problems, and experiencing other adversities (Kimball, Journal of Family Violence, 31, 625–637, 2016). Among the range of protective factors that can mitigate against this impact is a strong relationship with, and attachment to, a primary caregiver (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, Child Abuse & Neglect, 32, 797–810, 2008). Despite this, there are few evidenced-based programs which address the unique parenting supports required by women who experience domestic violence, while simultaneously attending to the unique developmental and psycho-social needs of exposed young children (Austin, Shanahan, Barrios, & Macy, Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 20(4), 498–519, 2019). This article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of Mothers in Mind, a trauma-informed, dyadic, mother–child intervention program designed to meet this need. Analyses of data from 36 mother–child dyads who completed pre- and post-group evaluation find that, after program completion, mothers report greater parenting self-efficacy, healthier parenting, and enhanced psychological well-being. The importance of relational capacity building in mother–child dyads impacted by violence and suggestions for future avenues for research and intervention are explored.

Evaluation of the Short-Time Empowerment Intervention Package of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran to Reduce Domestic Violence

“…Surprisingly, however, the women in the intervention group and those in the control group were the same for this characteristic. According to certain studies, partnerships with other women who had experienced abuse could help them manage high-risk domestic violence situations more efficiently (19). The psychologist gave the women the tools to deal with the husband's rage and abuse, which has been shown in certain studies to be effective (20,21).…”

Domestic violence: prevention past due

“…19 Healthy attachment to a primary caregiver mitigates the negative effects of ACEs, but caregivers experiencing DV are less able to be sensitive and responsive to their children. 20 Dyadic services for children and caregivers promote child social-emotional health and improve maternal parenting and mental health. 20 Since 2023, Medi-Cal has provided a dyadic behavioral health benefit: behavioral health care for a caregiver that benefits the child can be billed to the child's Medi-Cal identifier.…”

“… 20 Dyadic services for children and caregivers promote child social-emotional health and improve maternal parenting and mental health. 20 Since 2023, Medi-Cal has provided a dyadic behavioral health benefit: behavioral health care for a caregiver that benefits the child can be billed to the child's Medi-Cal identifier. 21 Other states can leverage these approaches.…”

Process mining the trajectories for adolescent‐to‐mother violence from longitudinal police and health service data

“…Considering this, reducing adolescent-to-mother violence clearly requires early childhood interventions that enable mothers to safely parent their children, build and maintain secure mother-child attachment and foster childhood mental health. Maternal psychoeducational programs provided by nurses, often in conjunction with social workers, such as ATTACH (Letourneau et al, 2020), Minding the Baby (Slade et al, 2020) and the Mothers in Mind (Jenney et al, 2022) are examples of interventions that aim to enhance mothers capacity to understand their own and their child's mental health. These programs assist mothers to regulate their own emotions and improve mother-child attachment, which may buffer the negative effects of adverse childhood environments and have been used effectively with mothers experiencing intimate partner violence.…”