RESUMO
Selma Fraiberg's pioneering work with infants, toddlers, and families over 40 years ago led to the development of a field in which professionals from multiple disciplines learned to work with or on behalf of infants, very young children, their parents, and the relationships that bind them together. The intent was to promote social and emotional health through enhancing the security of early developing parent-child relationships in the first years of life (Fraiberg, 2018). Called infant mental health (IMH), practitioners from fields of health, education, social work, psychology, human development, nursing, pediatrics, and psychiatry specialize in supporting the optimal development of infants and the developing relationship between infants and their caregivers. When a baby is born into optimal circumstances, to parents free of undue economic and psychological stressors and who are emotionally ready to provide care and nurturing for an infant's needs, an IMH approach may be offered as promotion or prevention, with the goal of supporting new parent(s) in developing confidence in their capacity to understand and meet the needs of the tiny human they are coming to know and care for. However, when parental history is fraught with abandonment, loss, abuse or neglect, or the current environment is replete with economic insecurity, threats to survival due to interpersonal or community violence, social isolation, mental illness, or substance abuse, the work of the IMH therapist may require intervention or intensive treatment and becomes more psychotherapeutic in nature. The underlying therapeutic goal is to create a context in which the baby develops within the environment of a parent's nurturing care without the psychological impingement that parental history of trauma or loss or current stressors such as isolation, poverty, or the birth of a child with special needs, can incur.
Assuntos
Serviços de Saúde da Criança/história , Visita Domiciliar , Saúde do Lactente/legislação & jurisprudência , Serviços de Saúde Mental/história , Saúde Mental/legislação & jurisprudência , Cuidadores/psicologia , Criança , Serviços de Saúde da Criança/legislação & jurisprudência , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , História do Século XX , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Serviços de Saúde Mental/legislação & jurisprudência , Michigan , Relações Pais-Filho , Pais/psicologiaRESUMO
In recent years, there has been an increase in the research on reflective supervision, including the development of tools designed to measure reflective practice in the context of reflective supervision. The Reflective Supervision Self-Efficacy Scale for Supervisees (RSSESS) is a self-report measure that has been used in previous evaluations and is designed to assess perceived reflective practice self-efficacy for Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting (IMH-HV) therapists. Properties of the RSSESS including factor structure and reliability are explored in a first study that lays the foundation for the use of the RSSESS in an IMH-HV evaluation in the State of Michigan. IMH-HV therapists completed the RSSESS at 4 time points over a 12-month period and also completed a Clinician Profile Form that included questions about their IMH background and their work experience, including job satisfaction and burnout. Results indicated that the RSSESS is a reliable tool to measure change in reflective practice skills. IMH-HV therapists demonstrated growth in their use of reflective practice skills with families and their observational skills over the 12-month period. In addition, results indicated correlations between reflective supervision self-efficacy and job satisfaction as well as burnout.
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Pessoal de Saúde/psicologia , Visita Domiciliar , Autoeficácia , Inquéritos e Questionários/normas , Esgotamento Profissional , Serviços de Saúde da Criança , Humanos , Lactente , Saúde do Lactente , Satisfação no Emprego , Saúde Mental , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Michigan , Reprodutibilidade dos TestesRESUMO
This essay discusses infant mental health (IMH) as well as its origins and relational framework. The author then reflects, professionally and personally, on the meaning of psychological vulnerability of boys under 5 years of age, the importance of early caregiving relationships to the reduction of risk, and implications for education and training in the IMH field.
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Relações Pai-Filho , Saúde do Lactente , Saúde Mental , Poder Familiar/psicologia , Comportamento de Redução do Risco , Serviços de Saúde da Criança , Pai/psicologia , Pessoal de Saúde/psicologia , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , Serviços de Saúde MentalRESUMO
The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health identified a need for reflective supervision training for infant mental health (IMH) specialists providing home-based services to highly vulnerable infants and their families. Findings indicate that this pilot of an IMH community mental health professional development model was successful, as measured by the participants' increased capacity to apply reflective practice and supervisory knowledge and skills. Furthermore, IMH clinicians demonstrated an increase in the frequency of their use of reflective practice skills, and their supervisors demonstrated an increase in their sense of self-efficacy regarding reflective supervisory tasks. Finally, the evaluation included a successful pilot of new measures designed to measure reflective practice, contributing to the growing body of research in the area of reflective supervision.
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Serviços de Saúde da Criança , Pessoal de Saúde , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Assistentes Sociais , Adulto , Idoso , Competência Clínica , Conselheiros , Currículo , Feminino , Seguimentos , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Modelos Teóricos , Projetos Piloto , Psicologia , Autoeficácia , PensamentoRESUMO
This article describes findings from a project conducted in Western Australia (Mental Health Commission WA, 2015) that investigated the education and training needs of the Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health (I/ECMH) workforce. We examined international training programs and models of delivery in infant mental health, including a review of the current training available in Australia. Data collected from over 60 interviews were analyzed, and a staged delivery model for I/ECMH training and supervision that aligned with the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (2014) Competency Guidelines was recommended. These findings led to the purchase of the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (2014) for use in Western Australia. In a very short time, use of the Michigan Competency Framework by the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health West Australian Branch Incorporated has begun to change the training and education opportunities for upskilling the infant and early childhood workforce in Western Australia. It has resulted in a map to guide and develop training in the I/ECMH field for individual practitioners and professionals as well as for workplaces that will ultimately benefit Western Australian infants, young children, and their families during the perinatal period and in the early years.
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Pessoal de Saúde/educação , Saúde Mental/educação , Pediatria/educação , Pré-Escolar , Humanos , Lactente , Internacionalidade , Austrália OcidentalRESUMO
This article offers a brief review of the history of supervision, defines reflective supervision, and reports the results of a Delphi study designed to identify critical components of reflective supervision. Academicians and master clinicians skilled in providing reflective supervision participated in a three-phase survey to elicit beliefs about best practice when engaging in reflective supervision. The process yielded consensus descriptions of optimal characteristics and behaviors of supervisors and supervisees when entering into supervisory relationships that encourage reflective practice. These results, although preliminary, suggest that it is possible to identify elements that are integral to effective reflective supervision. These initial findings may be used for future study of the reflective supervisory process.
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Serviços de Saúde da Criança/métodos , Pessoal de Saúde/psicologia , Serviços de Assistência Domiciliar , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Serviços de Saúde da Criança/organização & administração , Pré-Escolar , Pessoal de Saúde/organização & administração , Serviços de Assistência Domiciliar/organização & administração , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Relações Interprofissionais , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Pediatria/métodosAssuntos
Serviços de Saúde Mental , Pré-Escolar , Cultura , Pessoal de Saúde/educação , Humanos , Lactente , Saúde MentalRESUMO
This column describes an innovative collaboration in Michigan that could serve as a model for meaningful community-university-state partnerships. Recent legislation in Michigan threatened the infant mental health home visiting program, a service for Medicaid-eligible infants, toddlers, and families affected by mental illness. The University of Michigan is overseeing two major studies in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, the Michigan Infant Toddler Research Exchange faculty network, and community health service providers to determine the evidence base for the program and ensure its future success.
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Serviços de Assistência Domiciliar/organização & administração , Visita Domiciliar/economia , Colaboração Intersetorial , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Avaliação de Programas e Projetos de Saúde , Humanos , Lactente , Medicaid/economia , Michigan , Modelos Organizacionais , Estados UnidosRESUMO
We review historical factors that led to the creation of the interdisciplinary field of infant mental health. The history of infant mental health is linked to transformations in scientific knowledge about infancy that emerged primarily in the 20th century, particularly with respect to social and emotional development. Contemporary challenges for the infant mental health field focus on research, practice, and policy issues that reflect these shifts and impact our understanding of the dynamic social, emotional, and cultural forces that shape early development.