Many theories on mother-infant relations have argued that maternal sensitivity plays a critical role in forming an infant's security of attachment. Based on these theories, this study proposes a Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program to enhance maternal...
Many theories on mother-infant relations have argued that maternal sensitivity plays a critical role in forming an infant's security of attachment. Based on these theories, this study proposes a Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program to enhance maternal sensitivity and investigates the effect of this program on mother, infant, and their interaction. Utilizing the fundamental principles of theraplay and allowing multiple mother-child pairs to simultaneously join a theraplay session, Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program was designed to enhance maternal sensitivity as well as the attachment security of the infant.
The participant of this study consisted of 30 mother-infant pairs and the age of the infants ranged from 18 to 30 months. Among the 30 pairs, the half was assigned to the experimental group and the other half to the control group. The experimental group consisted of four sub-groups of mother-infant pairs, and participated in the Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program. The experimental theraplay program was run for 16 periods, each of which consists of 40-minute sessions.
In order to assess the effectiveness of the program, several measures on both mothers and infants were taken. Maternal Behavior Q-set was used to index maternal sensitivity, and Attachment Security Q-set to assess the infant's security of attachment and subordinate behaviors of attachment. Furthermore, to gain a accurate measure of attachment-associated variables, the mother’s depression, marital satisfaction, social support, early childhood experiences and toddler temperaments were measured on a linear scale. In addition, a MIM Rating Scale was used as a means of assessing the interactions between mother and infant.
The results of this study are as follows.
First, the mothers who participated in the program showed an increase in their maternal sensitivity level. Furthermore, a follow-up test confirmed that this effect was lasted after the termination of the experiment.
Second, the Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program also helped the infant participants to enhance their security of attachment. As found in the mother participants, this effect has not been decayed after the termination of the program.
Third, controlling for the attachment-associated variables, it was found that the program had an independently significant effect on infant's attachment behavior. This study also showed that the maternal sensitivity increased by the Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program played a mediating role in improving infant's security of attachment.
Fourth, the observation on the overt behaviors of the mother participants revealed that they had gradually developed a total understanding of their child's signals and desires, and also made appropriate reactions promptly. On the other hand, it was also observed that the infant participants had developed a stable attachment behavior to their mother over the course of the program.
Fifth, after participating in the program, the mother and child’s interactive relationship was more positively changed.
Therefore, the conclusion of this study is that the Mother-Child Group Theraplay Program enhances maternal sensitivity, increases the attachment-security of the infant and furthermore transforms the interactions between the mother and infant in a most positive way.