Why do mothers volunteer for infant observation and what do they make of the experience? A qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Observations of a mother and her newborn infant form part of the curriculum on many psychoanalytic trainings and post-graduate courses, yet there has been little systematic research into observed mothers’ perspectives. This study aims to explore mothers’ motivations and experiences of being observed, in order to help inform ethical considerations, both around the practice of observation and the possible needs of mothers being observed. Twelve mothers were interviewed, all of whom had been observed as part of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families postgraduate courses. A qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the interviews revealed the complexity of mothers’ interests and of their feelings towards the observers, as well as the mixed and emotionally intense experience of being observed during early motherhood. For some mothers, this experience led to an increased capacity to reflect, helping them to observe themselves, their babies and their relationship with them. However, some mothers described a different experience, in which they felt constantly scrutinized, and found themselves performing for the observer in a way that felt unnatural. The findings are discussed in relation to psychoanalytic theories of early motherhood. This paper concludes by considering their implications for the practice of parent-infant observations.

KEYWORDS:

• Infant observation
• motherhood
• qualitative research
• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Notes on contributors

Alejandra Perez is a British Psychoanalytic Society psychoanalyst and a Parent-Infant Psychotherapist working at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. She has a PhD in Psychology from University College London. She has undertaken research on attachment, psychoanalysts’ styles of working and has written systematic reviews for the NICE mental health guidelines. She is Programme Director of the MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology at University College London and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, where she has taught psychoanalysis and parent-infant observation since 2008. She also works privately as a psychoanalyst. She has published papers in the Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (2018), the International Journal of Developmental Science (2016) and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis (2015).

Sara Tookey is an applied psychology researcher and Trainee Clinical Psychologist at University College London and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. She specializes in qualitative and mixed methods research in health psychology, clinical psychology and psychotherapeutic research. She trained as an existential phenomenological therapist and researcher and worked as a qualitative research lecturer and supervisor on the MSc on Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology at University College London and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families from 2015 to 2017.

Martha Isaza Salcedo is from Colombia, where her clinical psychology practice and research includes parenthood, upbringing, intergenerational patterns and adult and child mental health. She is about to begin training as a psychoanalyst in the Colombian Psychoanalytic Society. She works in a school in Bogotá, Colombia, and has a private psychoanalytic psychotherapy practice.

Muriel De Barbieri is a Clinical Psychologist qualified at Ponticia Universidad Catolica del Peru with an MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology from University College London and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. She is currently working in the Early Years section of the Psychology Department in a school in Lima, Peru. She also has a private practice with children and adolescents.

ORCID

Alejandra Perez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3330-1152

Muriel De Barbieri http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0701-2499