LE3 .A278 2015

2015

Symons, Doug

Acadia University

Master of Science

Masters

Clinical Psychology

Psychology

The present thesis examined the effectiveness of a home- and sensitivity-based intervention for families with a history of maltreatment. Participants were 19 parents and their two to eight year-old children; nine of these parent-child pairs were assessed before and after an eight-week intervention protocol. Assessments included home observations of parental sensitivity and attachment security, as well as parent-report measures of their own trauma histories, emotional distress, child behaviour problems, and mental health. The hypothesis that sensitivity would improve from pre- to post-intervention was supported in the present study and while attachment security and affective lability showed non-significant trends towards improvement, there were no other significant changes. Contrary to predictions, parents’ own trauma histories were not related to intervention effectiveness, but qualitative examinations of response to treatment suggested that certain parental personality factors and psychopathologies were related to reduced intervention effectiveness. Finally, intercorrelations of pre-intervention measures from all 19 families suggested that various indices of positive family functioning appear to cluster together. In sum, the present study provides preliminary evidence that a brief sensitivity-focused family intervention can improve parenting behaviours in high-risk, maltreating families in a rural community. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:391