Using video feedback to improve early father–infant interaction: A pilot study

Abstract

Preventive interventions with parents of infants have tended to focus on mothers. Recent research focused on fathers suggests that their involvement in interventions might enhance effectiveness. One effective approach with mothers is the brief, home-based Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting (VIPP). This paper is a report of a pilot study of VIPP with fathers to assess its feasibility.Five fathers were recruited from an existing longitudinal study of parents. The primary outcome was acceptability, assessed using a semi-structured questionnaire after completion of the intervention.All fathers completed all sessions of the intervention. Fathers rated the intervention as having had a significant impact on their understanding of their child’s thoughts and feelings, and as having improved their communication and relationship with their baby. Fathers’ feedback was generally positive. The flexibility to conduct sessions at home (or at fathers’ places of work) and the flexible timing of sessions were identified as fundamental to successful delivery.The results of this pilot study are encouraging, as VIPP with fathers was feasible. In light of the modest sample size, and the use of a non-clinical sample, the intervention must be evaluated with larger, clinical samples to evaluate its efficacy with fathers.

Effective preventive interventions to support parents of young children: Illustrations from the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD)

“…Recent outcomes have confirmed the positive effect of the VIPP-SD on sensitive parenting (Green et al, 2015;Negrao et al, 2014;Poslawsky, Naber, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Van Daalen et al, 2014;Yagmur et al, 2014) and on sensitive caregiving in daycare (Werner et al, 2016). There are also several VIPP-SD studies in progress, for example with fathers (Lawrence et al, 2013), and with parents with intellectual disabilities (Hodes, Meppelder, Schuengel, & Kef, 2014).…”

“…By offering the VIPP-SD at home, we increase the chance that parents complete the entire program. To date, in research and practice dyadic parent-child interactions -mostly mother-child interactions -have been targeted, although the first studies on VIPP-SD with fathers (Lawrence, Davies, & Ramchandani, 2013) as well as parent couples are in progress. In the couples study, the VIPP-SD includes situations of triadic interaction between child and both parents.…”

Music training and empathy positively impact adults’ sensitivity to infant distress

“…If such training is effective, it would be beneficial to parenting contexts because it could be used during pregnancy, and delivered automatically via computer, Internet or smartphone. Such training on emotion discrimination might be helpful in augmenting other early parenting interventions, which have good evidence bases, such as Video Feedback (e.g., Stein et al, 2006 ; Bakermans-Kranenburg et al, 2008 ; Lawrence et al, 2013 ).…”

Dads' Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO‐D)

“…Early positive father–child interaction is important for child development (Cook, Roggman, & Boyce, ; Engle & McElwain, ; Foster, Reese‐Weber, & Kahn, ; Kochanska, Aksan, Prisco, & Adams, ; Ramchandani et al, ). Infant–toddler programs are increasingly recognizing the value of engaging fathers in home visits (Benzies, Magill‐Evans, Harrison, McPhail, & Kimak, ; Lawrence, Davies, & Ramchandani, ; Roggman, Boyce, Cook, & Cook, ), but there are few existing measures that capture the quality of father–child interactions in natural settings. One measure, the Parenting Interactions with Children—Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO; Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Jump Norman, & Christiansen, ), is an observational measure of parenting intended for use by practitioners and researchers.…”