Title:
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Parental experiences of the 'time together' home visiting intervention : an attachment theory perspective
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Attachment theory proposes that the early parent-child relationship forms the
foundation for the way in which a child learns about people and the world around
them (Bowlby, 1969a). Poor attachment experiences are shown to have
significant implications for children's development and society as a whole. One
solution posed is that professionals support parents early on to promote a positive
parent-child interaction.
The current qualitative study was carried out to understand the experiences of
seven parents who had taken part in the UK based Time Together home visiting
intervention. All parents had been referred to the intervention due to concerns
about the parent being socially isolated and/or having difficulties in their
relationship with their child. All parents were interviewed after they had taken part,
and key themes were identified based upon an Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA) using a social constructionist epistemology. The key findings were
that, through the intervention, parents experienced a change within their notion of
self, seeing their child as a separate self and seeing the world through their child's
eyes. Play activities promoted greater levels of attunement and fun within the
parent-child relationship. Fundamental to the success of the intervention was the
parent's relationship with their home visitor, which often empowered parents.
Social isolation was seen as a self devised strategy used to limit social interactions
that evoked feelings of fear. The creation of a conceptual model represented the
process of how more socially isolated parents experiencing difficulties within the
parent-child relationship can be supported to become more involved with their
community. The implications for Educational Psychologists were discussed.
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