ABSTRACT This paper describes a pilot of art psychotherapy groups using a dyadic approach as an intervention for parents and infants in order to improve their relationships. The pilot was developed as a collaboration between an Art Psychotherapist and a Developmental Psychologist. It sought to use standardised measures of parental well-being and object relations as well as developing an observational tool that could be applied to video footage of groups to measure change in the duration of attachment behaviours across the span of the intervention. The paper demonstrates a positive change within the dyads’ relationships and the viability of evaluating groups using these measures. It will describe the process of developing the observational tool and argue for the next steps to be taken. Plain-language summary We are researching whether making art together in an art therapy group might help improve the bonding between parents and their young children. The experiences we have with our caregivers in the first years of life are crucial for our well-being for the rest of our lives. It makes a difference to have a caregiver who is emotionally available and who is responsive. We think that when infants and their parents make art together it encourages lots of positive behaviours between them that can help to improve the way they relate to each other – their attachment. Art encourages lots of joint looking and shared sensory experiences which can help them to communicate better and, importantly, to have fun together and enjoy each other’s company. Our research looked at an Art Therapy approach where a group of parents and infants did art and messy play together for 12 weeks with the support of a qualified art psychotherapist. We showed that there were improvements in the well-being of parents and in the way they viewed their relationships following the art therapy group and the change in well-being was statistically significant. We also measured the length of time each parent–infant pair spent engaged in behaviour that would be seen as positive for attachments and saw that this increased from the first to last session. This is really promising pilot evidence that Art Therapy might be a useful tool to help with struggling parents and their very young children.

中文翻译：

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父母和婴儿的二元艺术心理治疗小组——试行定量评估方法

摘要 本文描述了一个艺术心理治疗小组的试点，该小组使用二元方法作为对父母和婴儿的干预，以改善他们的关系。该试点项目是一位艺术心理治疗师和一位发展心理学家合作开发的。它试图使用父母幸福感和客体关系的标准化措施，并开发一种观察工具，该工具可应用于群体的视频片段，以测量干预期间依恋行为持续时间的变化。该论文展示了二人关系的积极变化以及使用这些措施评估群体的可行性。它将描述开发观察工具的过程，并讨论要采取的后续步骤。简明语言总结 我们正在研究在艺术治疗小组中一起创作艺术是否有助于增进父母与幼儿之间的联系。我们在生命最初几年与照顾者的经历对于我们余生的幸福至关重要。有一个情感上可用且反应迅速的护理人员会有所作为。我们认为，当婴儿和他们的父母一起创作艺术时，它会鼓励他们之间的许多积极行为，这有助于改善他们相互联系的方式——他们的依恋。艺术鼓励许多共同观看和分享感官体验，这可以帮助他们更好地交流，重要的是，一起玩乐并享受彼此的陪伴。我们的研究着眼于一种艺术治疗方法，在这种方法中，一群父母和婴儿在合格的艺术心理治疗师的支持下，一起进行了 12 周的艺术和杂乱游戏。我们表明，在接受艺术治疗组之后，父母的幸福感以及他们看待人际关系的方式都有所改善，幸福感的变化具有统计学意义。我们还测量了每对父母 - 婴儿参与被视为对依恋有利的行为的时间长度，并且发现这一时间从第一次到最后一次增加。这确实是很有希望的试点证据，表明艺术疗法可能是一种有用的工具，可以帮助陷入困境的父母和他们非常年幼的孩子。我们表明，在接受艺术治疗组之后，父母的幸福感和他们看待人际关系的方式都有所改善，幸福感的变化具有统计学意义。我们还测量了每对父母 - 婴儿参与被视为对依恋积极的行为所花费的时间，并发现这一时间从第一次到最后一次增加。这确实是很有希望的试点证据，表明艺术疗法可能是一种有用的工具，可以帮助陷入困境的父母和他们非常年幼的孩子。我们表明，在接受艺术治疗组之后，父母的幸福感以及他们看待人际关系的方式都有所改善，幸福感的变化具有统计学意义。我们还测量了每对父母 - 婴儿参与被视为对依恋积极的行为所花费的时间，并发现这一时间从第一次到最后一次增加。这确实是很有希望的试点证据，表明艺术疗法可能是一种有用的工具，可以帮助陷入困境的父母和他们非常年幼的孩子。我们还测量了每对父母 - 婴儿参与被视为对依恋积极的行为所花费的时间，并发现这一时间从第一次到最后一次增加。这确实是很有希望的试点证据，表明艺术疗法可能是一种有用的工具，可以帮助陷入困境的父母和他们非常年幼的孩子。我们还测量了每对父母 - 婴儿参与被视为对依恋积极的行为所花费的时间，并发现这一时间从第一次到最后一次增加。这确实是很有希望的试点证据，表明艺术疗法可能是一种有用的工具，可以帮助陷入困境的父母和他们非常年幼的孩子。