Volume 18, Issue 2
Outcome Study About Two Early Attachment Based Interv entions in Dyads Mother-Baby From Santiago de Chile
Abstract
Early interventions to foster secure attachment between mothers and babies had become one of the main preventive strategies to avoid future health problems to become stable features of the person. However, outcomes studies of this kind of interventions are rare in Chile. The aim of this study is to assess efficacy of two early attachments based interventions to promote secure attachment in mothers and infants. 55 dyads mother-baby from two primary care outpatient centers in Región Metropolitana were assigned to two interventions groups to foster secure attachment: Attachment Workshop (n=16) and Massage Workshop (n=22) and a control group (n=17). Dyads were assessed in their homes at three different moments (pre-treatment; post-treatment and follow up at 3 months later). Measures were an observational scale of attachment (Attachment during Stress) and Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale. All three groups were compared in the three phases using these two measures. While the rate of secure attachment remains stable in the control group, the experimental group that considers the Attachment Workshop and the Massage Workshop shows a significant increase in the rate of secure attachments from pre to post-treatment even at the follow-up (Q=7,412; p=0,025). Furthermore, attachment workshop showed a significant decrease of post-partum depression between the three phases (Chi cuadrado = 6,079; p=0,04931) unlike the two other groups who shows no decrease. This study prove in a Chilean sample, that the use interventions that are brief, manualized and aim to foster specific skills can be effective in improving the health and quality of life of children during the early years of life.
Keywords
attachment, intervention, infant mental health