Effectiveness of parent–infant psychotherapy for infant development, parenting, parental mental health, and the attachment relationship: a review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Parent–child psychotherapy (PIP) is recommended for maltreated children. This review provides a synthesis of PIP outcomes for parents, children, and their relationship. Eight databases were searched with 16 studies fitting the inclusion criteria. Most studies found improvements in parental mental health. Mixed results were obtained for child development and the attachment relationship. Those with >4 previous traumas benefited more from PIP than those in comparison groups. Clinical implications include the importance of screening for trauma to support access to treatment. Treatment fidelity, small samples, and confounding variables may limit the reliability and validity of results. Further research is needed.

KEY FINDINGS

1. Specifically, those with poor-predicted prognosis and >4 previous traumas benefited more from PIP than those in comparison groups, which highlights the importance of screening for complex trauma histories at the point of assessment.

2. Most studies found improvements in parental mental health following PIP intervention, illustrating the efficacy of PIP for parental mental health.

3. Improvements in adult mental health suggest the importance of ensuring that such clients have access to trauma-informed therapies.

KEYWORDS:

• Maltreated children
• parent–child psychotherapy
• parent–child attachment
• parent-infant psychotherapy
• trauma-informed intervention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2024.2343685

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Hagan et al. (2017) included due to mean age below 5 years, M = 49.14 months.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlotte Cucciniello

Dr. Charlotte Cucciniello is a Clinical Psychologist and Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapist. Charlotte has extensive experience working in NHS, local authority and private settings working with children and adults across the life span. Charlotte has a specific interest in trauma informed work, attachment and influencing systems to apply such principles to their practice. Charlotte now works for a highly specialist neurodevelopmental private practice assessing children for autism and providing support for looked after children and their carers. She continues to hold research interests in intergenerational trauma and working with at risk families and children at the edge of care.

Yvonne Melia

Dr. Yvonne Melia is a Clinical Psychologist, Principal Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and the Academic Director of the Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Staffordshire University. Yvonne has extensive experience in working with children in care and adopted children, their parents, carers and professional networks. Yvonne has worked with this client group in CAMHS within the NHS, local authority and private sector. Yvonne is skilled in providing consultation, supervision, training and teaching along with delivery of reflective practice groups and group supervision. Yvonne’s research interests lie in attachment, developmental trauma, applications of clinical psychology in social care contexts and psychological issues pertaining to children in care and other vulnerable children and families. She is keen to apply research to enhance psychological care for these service users. Yvonne is also interested in young people’s mental health and has a specific interest in systemic factors related to self-harm.