“Strengthening Bonds Program” to promote positive mother-child interactions and child behavior problems

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

The quality of mother-child interaction acts as a predictor of child development and can contribute to reducing adverse childhood experiences and positively affect child development (Choe, Olson, & Sameroff, 2013). In addition, maternal and child characteristics influence the establishment of mother-child interactions (Sameroff, 2009). Parenting-centered intervention programs improve parental practices and promote attachment and socio-emotional support to child development (Whittle et al., 2014). These programs can include video feedback strategy, in which videos are analyzed and discussed with the parents to provide guidelines for promoting positive parenting and improving mother-child interactions and child development (Balldin, Fisher, & Wirtberg, 2018). The present study aimed to examine the feasibility of the Strengthening Bonds Program (SBP), targeting mothers of children with behavior problems, to improve mother-child interactions and reduce child behavior problems. The SBP is a universal preventive remote video feedback to improve positive mother-child interactions (Linhares, Atafim, Gaspardo, & Oliveira, 2019). The sample included 18 mothers and their 2-to-6-year-old children recruited in the public family health centers and schools. The families were psychosocial vulnerable living in stressful and violent neighborhoods, in a medium-low income country. The SBP comprises the following three steps: (i) two video record session of mother and child interactions in a systematic structured play-situation (pre- and post-intervention); (ii) one face-to-face group-based session to instruct and discuss about the positive dimensions of mother-child interactions (responsiveness, reciprocity, and adaptive directivity); (3) video feedback remote strategy, by sending personalized short-videoclips of mother-child interactions. These video clips were previously edited, including mixed clips of two different types of parts: animated clips with instructions about positive mother-child interactions and the mother-child dyad personalized clips, including positive feedback through subtitles and emojis. Six edited video clips were sent weekly to the mothers´ smartphones (two for each dimension of positive interaction). The mother-child interaction assessment was performed by a blind researcher through Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO), an analysis system (Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Norman, & Christiansen, 2013). The child behavior assessment was done by mother-report using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997). The within-group comparisons were performed by the Wilcoxon and McNemar tests (p ≤ 0.05). The results showed that, in comparison to pre-intervention, in the post-intervention the mothers improved significantly their interactive behavior in the PICOLLO-Total score (Pre- intervention, median = 39.5; Post-intervention, median = 42.5; p = 0.04), and PICOLLO-Teaching domain (Pre-, median = 39.5; Post-, median = 42.5; p = 0.03). Additionally, after the intervention, the number of children classified as normal in the SDQ increased compared to the pre-intervention (Pre-intervention, n=0; Post-intervention, n= 6, 33%; p = 0.03). In conclusion, the Strengthening Bonds Program, which was previously tested as a universal preventive program, showed feasibility to be applied also in the target population of mothers of children with behavior problems, aiming to promote positive mother-child interactions and to reduce behavior problems.

Authors

• Rebeca Cristina de OLIVEIRA, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Presenting Author

• Elisa Rachel Pisani Altafim, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claudia Maria Gaspardo, University of Sao Paulo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
  Non-Presenting Author