ABSTRACT

Background

In pregnancy, the attachment relationship between a mother and her baby begins to develop and women are more motivated and willing to make changes to become more engaged and responsive mothers and have better relationships with their children. A transgenerational framework has proposed that dysfunctional relationship patterns are often repeated across generations and this has broadened the understanding of early difficulties in parenting. Despite this there has been little research specifically examining high-risk perinatal women and how their interactions with their infants are related to attachment or relational outcomes.

Methods

This pilot study aims to evaluate, and to explore the acceptability and feasibility, of participating in the Supporting Transitions, Attachment and Relationships (STAR Mums) program, a psychodynamic attachment-based group intervention, for pregnant women with risk factors for attachment difficulties. The STAR Mums program aims to intervene during pregnancy to assist women with risk factors in the transition to parenthood with the desired outcome to improve the quality of mother-infant emotional interactions, regulation and the attachment relationship. This is a mixed-methods design study incorporating both qualitative and quantitative assessments of five groups of five first-time mothers over a 12-month period.

Conclusions

This paper outlines the STAR Mums intervention and protocol for assessing acceptability and feasibility. The STAR Mums program takes a preventative approach and supports early intervention for parents at risk of attachment difficulties with their infants. The results of this study will inform revisions to the current treatment manual and a larger-scale program evaluation to further examine the efficacy of this intervention.

中文翻译：

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针对高危孕妇的心理群体干预：STAR 妈妈计划的可行性和可接受性研究方案

摘要

背景

在怀孕期间，母亲和婴儿之间的依恋关系开始发展，女性更有动力并愿意做出改变，以成为更投入和反应灵敏的母亲，并与孩子建立更好的关系。跨代框架提出，功能失调的关系模式经常在几代人之间重复，这扩大了对育儿早期困难的理解。尽管如此，很少有研究专门研究高危围产期妇女以及她们与婴儿的互动如何与依恋或关系结果相关。

方法

这项试点研究旨在评估并探索参与支持过渡、依恋和关系 (STAR Mums) 计划的可接受性和可行性，该计划是一种基于心理动力学依恋的团体干预，针对有依恋困难风险因素的孕妇。STAR Mums 计划旨在在怀孕期间进行干预，以帮助有风险因素的女性在向父母身份过渡时获得理想的结果，以提高母婴情感互动、调节和依恋关系的质量。这是一项混合方法设计研究，在 12 个月期间对五组（每组 5 名初次生育的母亲）进行了定性和定量评估。

结论

本文概述了用于评估可接受性和可行性的 STAR 妈妈干预和协议。STAR 妈妈计划采取预防措施，并支持对有婴儿依恋困难风险的父母进行早期干预。这项研究的结果将为当前治疗手册的修订和更大规模的项目评估提供信息，以进一步检查这种干预的有效性。