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ANZ J of Family Therapy - 2023 - Opie - Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy a834.75 kB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: a qualitative inquiry and recommendations
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, Vol.44(4), pp.412-439
2023
Abstract
This qualitative study explores infant-family mental health experts' perspectives and experiences regarding the inclusion of infants in the family therapy setting. Infant socioemotional development is relational in nature and evolves in the context of both dyadic attachment relationships and broader multi-person co-parenting systems. Given this, we sought to understand why family therapy interventions involving families with infants rarely include the infant in a triangular or family systemic approach. Interviews were completed by clinical and/or research experts whose work integrates tenets of both infant mental health (IMH) and family theory and therapy. All interviewees brought at least 5 years of expertise and were actively engaged in the field. Interviewees expressed consistent beliefs that infants have a rightful and helpful place in family therapy approaches. They maintained that infants' innate social drive and communicative capacities position them to make meaningful and clinically significant contributions within family and systemic psychotherapy contexts. Noting that infants have remained on the periphery of these practices, experts advocated expansion and greater integration between IMH and family therapy, while preserving each field's distinctive identity. Experts reported that the interplay between IMH and family therapy fields has been uni-directional as family systems concepts are embedded within IMH approaches, but few IMH premises are incorporated in mainstream family therapy practices. The disconnect was attributed to multiple factors, including graduate and professional training and theoretical, clinical, research, and sociocultural barriers, which were mutually reinforcing. Experts also identified clinical gains for both infants and family members when infants were meaningfully included in family interventions. Common ground was identified between the disciplines, with a belief that relationally distressed young children and parents are best served by clinical engagement with their network of relationships. Results call for greater collaboration between disciplines to challenge existing traditions and to more fully include infants in mainstream family therapy. Recommendations for integration of family therapy and IMH in clinical, theoretical, research, training, and sociocultural domains are offered.
Details
- Title
- Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: a qualitative inquiry and recommendations
- Authors
- Jessica E. Opie (Corresponding Author) - La Trobe UniversityAnna T. Booth - La Trobe UniversityLarissa Rossen - Trinity Western UniversityElisabeth Fivaz-Depeursinge - University of LausanneRobbie Duschinsky - University of CambridgeLouise Newman - The University of MelbourneJennifer E. Mcintosh - La Trobe UniversityEliza Hartley - La Trobe UniversityFelicity Painter - La Trobe UniversityDavid Oppenheim - University of HaifaCampbell Paul - Royal Children's HospitalAntoinette Corboz-Warnery - University of LausanneAlan Carr - University College DublinDiane A. Philipp - University of TorontoJames P. Mchale - University of South Florida St. Petersburg
- Publication details
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, Vol.44(4), pp.412-439
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1002/anzf.1569
- ISSN
- 1467-8438; 0814-723X
- Copyright note
- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2023 The Authors. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991149439502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Family Studies
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