Abstract
Background: Parents are a central focus in clinical infant mental health interventions because of the key importance of the caregiver-infant relationship, especially when dyads are burdened by psychosocial and parental mental health problems. However, knowledge is scarce about the lived experience of vulnerable parents who undergo video-based guidance.Aim: The study explores how parents in an infant-psychiatric outpatient clinic who struggled to mentalize and remain emotionally connected to their infant experienced helpful and challenging elements in video guidance.Method: We analyzed the interviews of a strategic sample of 12 parents after undergoing Marte Meo video guidance, using a team-based, reflexive thematic analysis (TA).Results: We identified four main themes: (a) Handling initial feelings of fear and loss of control; (b) Filming as a disturbing or agentic experience; (c) Feeling validated or devalued in the therapeutic relationship; and (d) Bringing insights from video guidance into everyday life. Therapeutic and existential factors became apparent in the main themes of adjustment to the guidance, experiences with filming, the therapeutic relationship and integration of new experiences.Conclusion: The parents’ sense of agency, dignity, and shame may be important for their ability to integrate new ideas about themselves.Implications: Video guidance for vulnerable parents in specialized clinical treatment should address relational challenges, parental mental health, and issues of recognition.
Highlights
Parents are a central focus in clinical infant mental health interventions because of the key importance of the caregiver-infant relationship, especially when dyads are burdened by psychosocial and parental mental health problems
What is it like to receive an intervention focusing on your parenting capacity and skills when you are burdened by mental health problems and struggling to understand and connect with your own infant? Which factors help you engage in the intervention, and which are challenging? Parents are a central focus in infant mental health interventions because of the centrality of Vulnerable Parents Experience Video Guidance the parent-infant relationship for infant development and attachment (Word Health Organization, 2004)
We explore how clinically referred parents who struggle to mentalize or maintain an emotional connection with their infants experience the process of undergoing Marte Meo video guidance
Summary
What is it like to receive an intervention focusing on your parenting capacity and skills when you are burdened by mental health problems and struggling to understand and connect with your own infant? Parents are a central focus in infant mental health interventions because of the centrality of Vulnerable Parents Experience Video Guidance the parent-infant relationship for infant development and attachment (Word Health Organization, 2004). We explore how clinically referred parents who struggle to mentalize or maintain an emotional connection with their infants experience the process of undergoing Marte Meo video guidance. Parents are a central focus in clinical infant mental health interventions because of the key importance of the caregiver-infant relationship, especially when dyads are burdened by psychosocial and parental mental health problems. Knowledge is scarce about the lived experience of vulnerable parents who undergo videobased guidance
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