Quel développement psychomoteur et social des bébés en Maison d’Accompagnement Parents Enfants (MAPE) ? Une question partagée des MAPE et de la pédopsychiatrie périnatale

Abstract

Background and objectiveDevelopment of infants living in maternal and parental centers (called MAPE in French) with their mothers jointly questioned the professionals of these structures and child perinatal psychiatry. This convergence of concern about these children led to the development of joint work between the MAPEs of an associative structure (Association Vers la Vie pour l’Education des Jeunes AVVEJ, Île-de-France) and the perinatal child psychiatry unit of EPS Erasme (Île-de-France) in order to bring these dyads to psychic care and to assess infant development. MethodThe framework was defined by an agreement made by these two units. The protocol is made of three perinatal psychiatric mother-infant consultations - accompanied by an educator from the MAPE. The first one is to explain the protocol and take information about the current situation of the dyad. The second is a consultation to assess the development of the baby by Brunet-Lézine Révisé (a French developmental scale) which is video recorded. The third one is to explain the assessment results to the mother, paying attention to present the baby's strengths and weaknesses. To do so, Child Psychiatrists showed some selected parts of the videos to the mother. All the consultations are coordinated by the childcare worker from the child psychiatric unit, also supporting an active participation from the mother. FindingsThe study not only confirms the developmental delay of these children but also the various advantages of the implementation of this protocol for these dyads. Conclusion and perspectiveThese results confirm the need to continue this joint work and open the way to more specific investigation on how to support these infants’ development in an integrated manner. We also propose perspectives for future joint work with the dyads and maternal and parental centers.